Situations Change
by lookiewhatwehavehere
Summary: Zack is twenty three and he's proud of his achievements in life. But when he falls in love with a seventeen year old, he just causes himself problems Yaoi/Lemon Cloud x Zack Clack
1. Chapter 1

_This chapter isn't very long unfortunately as it's only the first one, I promise these will get longer XD Anyways, in this story Cloud is seventeen and Zack is twenty three, age gaps bring out the worst in me I swear. And I just wanted to point out that Zack is alive because as the title says, the situations changed, Zack survived, he didn't have Cloud to protect and he solved everything that Cloud did in the game originally. Which is why they don't know one another in this ^^. Hope you all enjoy._

_* I do not own the characters nor the game of which they come from, only the plot of my fanfiction_

Situations Change I

Though it was the winter season in Midgar, the sun had never been brighter.

It's rays burning down onto the people who were enjoying the strange weather patterns. One person, however, wasn't enjoying the weather all that much.

First Class SOLDIER, Zachary Fair, had been sent out on a normal patrol around the city though the trouble with Sephiroth and Genesis had been cleared up long ago, he was still sent out to do what he liked to call 'shitty police work'.

His blue eyes narrowed as he pulled at his thick black spiky hair, stretching his back a bit as he had been walking for several hours now and hadn't taken a break.

_Boy oh boy, I'm going to melt…like that witch in that crazy film Reno made me watch_ Zack took long strides as he walked passed the beach, ignoring the temptation to just run into the ocean completely naked and get rid of the feeling of sweat running down his back.

The SOLDIER looked down as he felt something hit the back of his legs and raised an eyebrow as he saw a black and white stripy beach ball sitting there.

"Sorry sir!" a breezy voice sounded to his left and he watched as a short light blonde haired person rushed over to him, their cheeks bright red with embarrassment. Zack picked the ball up and examined the person before him, their eyes were large and crystal blue with a little bit of green surrounding the pupil, they were dressed in a baggy plain blue shirt and baggy black shorts that fell just above their knees and they had a green and white bandana wrapped in their blonde spiky locks that framed their pale feminine face perfectly.

"That's alright, a pretty girl like you shouldn't worry about trivial things," Zack grinned as he handed the ball back to the startled looking person whose eyebrows were up on their forehead.

"Um…I'm a guy," Zack flinched and felt the heat race to his cheeks like a heavy tidal wave.

"I'm so sorry!" he panicked as he waved his hands around, causing the boy to laugh a little, Zack sighed, "I'm Zack Fair," he introduced.

"Cloud Strife," Cloud beamed at him and held the beach ball tightly to his chest, "it doesn't really matter that much, I get it a lot, I just picked up most of my mothers features I guess," Zack felt incredibly relieved that this kid seemed to have a sense of humor, "well I better be getting back," Cloud said and turned to look at his frantically waving friends.

Zack nodded as he watched the blonde part away from him, guilt still seeping into his veins as he stared sheepishly before finally giving in to his screaming head, "Cloud!" he yelled and several heads turned around to look at the strange SOLDIER including said boy who was once again bright red in the face, "look I know you said it was alright, but I'll continue to feel guilty," Zack tried to explain quickly, "so can I take you out for a drink?" Cloud laughed lightly as he shook his head.

"I'm only seventeen, so I think its best that I don't," he replied carefully as he tried to avoid hurting the man's feelings.

Zack felt his body becoming heavier as he seemed to deflate hearing Cloud's reply, though he should have known that Cloud was no where near his age considering the thin frame the kid had and the fact that he looked a lot younger than seventeen.

Cloud watched Zack's face fall and his breath hitched a little, rolling his eyes at himself as he walked back over to Zack after he had booted the beach ball over to his friends.

"One drink, but I'll be having orange dumbapple juice; do you know the 'Sukai Bar'?" Cloud smiled innocently as he watched Zack try to conceal his excitement, it was almost as if the man had been an over hyperactive puppy in his past life.

"I know it!" Zack cheered and he punched his fist into his palm, "be there at eight," he flashed a toothy grin and Cloud shrieked as the man pulled him into a rough hug, a leather clad hand ruffling his hair, "wow your hair is so soft!" Cloud gasped, as he was suddenly free from the tanned mans grasp and he watched in amusement, as Zack walked away doing what looked like a small dance with his hands.

"Well done Cloud," the blonde muttered to himself, "you've picked up a right nutter there,"


	2. Chapter 2

Situations Change – Chapter II

Reviews Are Loved ^_^

Zack couldn't ignore his excitement that was building inside of him. It wasn't that he was meeting up with a boy he had described to his friend, Reno Sinclair as 'one of the cutest things he's ever seen in his life'. But it was because he was actually doing something _other _than his SOLDIER duties, he loved his job to death but he would like to do something more challenging and life threatening like before.

He had no idea what this 'Cloud' expected from him and he was a bit apprehensive about picking out his clothes without knowing what the boy preferred to have his company wearing so the raven haired beauty just picked out a simple long sleeved plain black t-shirt and slightly baggy, but yet still fitting, faded blue jeans.

'Can't go wrong there!' Zack grinned as he pulled at the few black strands that always fell in front of his face and resisted the urge to glare at them for refusing to get the hell out of his eyes.

"You're really going?" Zack jumped as he turned to see Reno leaning against his doorframe.

"I'll get a picture of him and you can see why I'm going," Zack joked as he flashed his friend a toothy grin and Reno raised his eyebrow.

"Right," Reno rolled his eyes, "this has nothing to do with the fact that you haven't actually been out months then?" the red head smirked as he quickly dodged a shoe that came flying from the first class's hand.

"Only the tiniest little bit!" Zack whined as he allowed his muscular arms to flop down by his sides with a heavy sigh.

"How old is this kid anyways, though I'm guessing pretty young if you mistook him for a girl," Reno laughed as he received a dirty look from Zack and got ready if he needed to dodge another shoe.

"He's…seventeen," Zack cleared his throat loudly after he had spoken and began to try and look as if he was sorting things out in his room as he saw the shocked expression on Reno's face.

"Whoa hold on a second cowboy," Reno grabbed the back of his friends shirt, forcing him to stop, "he's seventeen?" Zack hesitated before he nodded, "my _god _Zack I know I go for the younger people but only when they're_ two _years younger than myself, you're twenty three, isn't it a bit weird?" Reno wasn't on for lectures so it was a surprise to both of them at how concerned Reno had sounded.

"It's not a date!" Zack protested as he folded his arm stubbornly across his chest, "I'm only doing this to apologize to him," he cringed as he thought back to how he had spoken to Cloud and shook his head at his stupidity.

"All I'm saying is that this 'Cloud Strife' is a teenager, so he's still not fully developed in the brains area let alone anywhere else," Reno winked at Zack who scoffed at his friend's insinuation.

"Are you implying that I'm gay?" Zack smirked as he punched his fist into his palm and Reno flinched slightly, blinking rapidly as he looked up at the raven suddenly realizing how muscular and tall he was and he let out a small whimper.

"I should really stop picking on people bigger than me," Reno murmured to himself as he quickly darted out of his friend's room.

Zack couldn't remember the last time he had been in such a loud place, the music nearly made his ears bleed and he nearly choked on the amount of smoke from cigarettes.

'Sheesh, Cloud wanted to come here…doesn't seem like the type that would hang around in places like this' Zack jumped onto a bar stool and tapped his fingers as he waited smirking as he looked to his right to see a black haired girl staring at him, he waved a little with a smile and the girl smiled back, making her way over to him.

"Are you Zack Fair?" she asked directly as he brown eyes searched his face as if she was trying to remember something.

"Um…yeah…why?" Zack questioned as the black haired girl pulled on her small leather gloves.

"You're meeting my friend here, Cloud Strife, I just wanted to make sure that you were actually going to turn up," the girl smiled but Zack didn't.

'Making sure I would turn up?'

"What's that supposed to mean?" Zack was offended clearly and the girl blushed slightly.

"Cloud has just had it a bit rough sometimes when trying to make friends…they invite him out and then stand him up…I just wanted to make sure that it wasn't going to happen again because Cloud is a great guy, be nice okay," she winked at him with a cheery smile before she jogged out of the back entrance just as Cloud came in from the front entrance.

Zack felt a grin pull at the corners of his lips and saw that Cloud was dressed similar to him, he was wearing a long sleeved bright blue shirt and black fitting jeans, his bandana in his hair again.

Cloud smiled back at Zack as he passed through a few people, jumping onto the bar stool beside the adult, "I didn't realize that they were having a party night in here, sorry," Cloud apologized loudly so he would be heard over the music.

"No problem, we could always go somewhere else if you'd like!" Zack shouted back and Cloud nodded as a few blonde bangs fell into his eyes and they both got up from their stools.

Cloud put his fingers in his ears and wriggled them around as he tried to stop the ringing in his ears causing Zack to laugh at him slightly.

"Come on, I'll bring you back to my place," Cloud suggested as he smiled innocently and Zack smiled back at him, frowning as Reno's words came flying back to him.

'He's still not fully developed in the brains area let alone anywhere else' though Zack knew he wasn't intending to do anything with Cloud, he was still overly aware of how innocent and beautiful Cloud actually was.

"Sure, but wont your parents be a bit freaked out to see you bringing someone as old as I am home?" Zack asked as he followed Cloud down the dark streets.

"Well I only live with my mum and I doubt she'd mind me bringing you home, being a SOLDIER and all," Cloud explained as he looked up at Zack.

"D'aw Cloud you already have so much trust in me, that's so cute!" Zack pulled the blonde into a side ways hug as they walked, his hand once again going into Cloud's hair, ruffling it and he laughed as he noticed that it still stayed stubbornly neat and spiky.

"Zack!" Cloud squealed as he laughed, trying to fight off the man who had now started to tickle his sides, "you do this with all the people you've known for a day?" he yelled as he tried to grab at Zack's hands that were still tickling his sides.

"Only with the cute ones," Zack flirted as he stopped tickling Cloud and laughed at the red face that met his gaze.

Cloud rolled his eyes a bit before he punched Zack in the arm, "don't tell lies," Cloud chuckled as Zack pouted, rubbing his arm.

"For a short ass you can throw a punch," Zack commented and sighed a she felt exhausted from his smile constantly reappearing on his face whenever Cloud laughed.

"Not my fault they employ weaklings for SOLDIER these days," Cloud remarked before he took of down the road shouting in protests as Zack began to chase him down the road.

"Take that back you girl look a like!" Zack laughed as he caught the boy around the waist, gasping quietly as his boot clipped the pavement and he bashed right into Cloud's back making them fall.

"Well this is an unfortunate position," Cloud said in a sarcastic tone as he folded his arms across his chest, watching as Zack impressively managed to hold his hands out on the ground just before he crushed the Chocobo underneath him with his weight.

"Stupid pavement!" Zack cursed as he glared at the floor sending Cloud into another fit of laughter.

"It's pavement, it can't reply nor give a damn about the glare you're giving it," Cloud rapped his knuckles on Zack's forehead and Zack looked at him with his eyebrow arched.

"You sarcastic little…" he carefully positioned his feet either side of Cloud so he could push himself up and extended a hand out to Cloud who was currently rubbing the back of his head.

"Cheers," Cloud thanked as he helped Zack pull him up and brushed his hair out of his eyes, "but you are as graceful as an elephant," Cloud sniggered as he held his hand over his mouth to try and stop his laugh becoming too loudly.

"I will tell your dear old mummy that you suggested something inappropriate if you don't quit with the abuse," Zack threatened with a smirk and he combed through his hair.

"Sorry, I just find it easy to tease people," Cloud admitted and Zack nearly groaned at the sight of Cloud's innocent expression.

'Man, talk about adorable eyes or what!' Zack shook his head quickly to get rid of the thoughts and continued to follow him.

Something is wrong with me, I seem to have dived right into the whole 'fluff pool' and I'm drowning in it xD  
But I like this chapter, though those two have just met, like they did in Crisis Core, they hit it off instantly becoming friends ^^ I kind of like playful Cloud, I can just imagine him making teasing remarks towards Zack and Zack just laughing with him.  
And yes, the black haired girl who talks to Zack is indeed Miss Tifa Lockhart ^^ who was also one of the friends on the beach with Cloud in the last chapter  
I love these two so freaking much!  
As Best Friends? As a Couple? How care x3 They are adorable when they are together I just love them together which is why I hated when Zack died in not just Final Fantasy VII, but in Crisis Core as well  
Ah, now Zack has to meet Cloud's mother *laughs insanely* you have no idea how much fun I am having writing that scene xD  
Oh by the way, Reno lives with Zack x3 Just to clear that up for you guys if you're reading this going 'why the heck is Reno in Zack's house?' xD I just love that sexy idiot so much that I have to put him in somewhere!  
Anyways I hope you enjoy this and I shall get back to work on the next chapter!

I don't own any of the characters nor the games of which they come from, only the plot to my fanfiction! ^_^


	3. Chapter 3

_I don't own these guys nor Final Fantasy._

Thank you to the surprising amount of people who have put this story on alert, at least I know that though I may not get reviews from you, you are still reading it ^_^ And to those who do review, thank you as well ^_^

_Hope you enjoy, review's please._

Situations ChangeChapter Three

It amused Zack to watch the happy blonde beside him talk about his mother with such pride, his voice so filled with love and affection when he explained how she had taken care of Cloud by herself when their father had unfortunately died when Cloud was still very young.

"She's been like my hero," Cloud smiled as he looked up at Zack who 'aww'd' him and loud sighed at his childishness, "don't do that when we get in," Cloud warned him and jabbed his finger into Zack's arm before he turned and twisted the key in the door.

"Cloud!" Zack nearly jumped a foot in the air as a short, beautiful blonde haired woman came into the hall way, her eyes seemed to have completely missed his presence and she went straight for her son, hugging him tightly.

"Mum," Cloud laughed as he put his arms around her and blushed furiously as he noticed Zack staring at them.

'Ooookay, nervous, extremely nervous and I'm a bit hard to miss…how the hell did she miss me standing next to Chocobo head? Though he's pretty distracting…' Zack flinched as he realized that Cloud's mother was staring at him with her giant blue eyes, a very visible blush upon her cheeks as she continued to stare at the man before her.

"Mum, this is Zack Fair, he's a SOLDIER," Cloud explained and then raised his eyebrows in shock as his mother giggled like a school girl as Zack took a hold of her hand and kissed the back of it.

"Pleasure to meet you," Zack grinned as he watched the shy woman bite her bottom lip, "you have an adorable son," he added and held back an excited giggle as he saw Cloud's face redden.

"I-um…well thank you," she stuttered and she glanced at Cloud with wide eyes, trying to send him a 'where the hell did you find this god from' look.

"Alright that's enough mum," Cloud chuckled as he placed her hands on her back and pushed her forcefully into the kitchen as he felt her trying to turn back around to stare more at Zack. He shut the door before she had a chance to say anything and shot a glare towards Zack who was in a small fit of hysterics, "don't ever do that again," he shook his head and he spun around on the stair banister waving his hand for Zack to follow him up the stairs.

'Still got it' Zack thought proudly as he saw Cloud's mother peeking through the kitchen window at him as he climbed up the stairs.

"Your mum's pretty hot," Zack teased and shrieked as he ducked to avoid being hit by Cloud's fist.

"Stop it!" Cloud bit his lip to stop a smile appearing on his face but he knew that Zack could see it, "that's not funny man," he said with a strained voice as he held his laughter back.

"Oh I beg to differ Chocobo," Zack replied with a seductive smile, his fingers poking at Cloud's sides again as the teenager struggled to get his bedroom door open whilst clawing at Zack's hands.

"Zack!" he shouted as he finally managed to push the door open, revealing his rather large blue painted bedroom, comics, games consoles and clothes scattered in one corner of the room and millions of game posters decorating the walls.

"It's still cleaner than my room!" Zack threw his hands to his head in despair, "I can't believe that a seventeen year old is actually cleaner than me!" he allowed his arms to fall weakly by his side and he looked up as Cloud patted his shoulder.

"Then get off your ass and clean it then," Cloud simple stated and Zack knitted his eyebrows together.

"Aw you're no fun," Zack whined as he wrapped his arms around Cloud's waist, grinning like a crazy person as he tickled him once more.

It was confusing to Zack how he found that he was this comfortable around the boy already, confusing how Cloud didn't seem to mind his overly friendly attitude towards him nor did he seem to mind the fact that Zack hardly kept his hands off of him, it wasn't in a sexual manner but Zack just loved to cuddle and tickle people, he had been doing it since he was a child so why should he stop just because he's an adult?

"No!" Cloud protested as he threw his head back in a wave of throaty laughs, his small hands pulling at Zack's trying to get away from him but he knew he wouldn't win as Zack was a hell of a lot stronger than he was.

"Hmm?" Zack raised his eyebrow and Cloud gasped as Zack shoved his warm large hands underneath his shirt and his fingers brushed up against his bare skin causing the sensation of tickling even worse, "I think you're far too ticklish my friend," Zack said with a sarcastic sigh and Cloud blushed heavily as they fell in a struggling heap onto his bed.

"Fuck _off_!" Cloud screamed as he wriggled against the attack of Zack's fingers, "I'm – ZACK!" Cloud gasped as he tried to breathe, tears streaming down his face in laughter and he finally managed to grab a hold of Zack's wrists, sitting up quickly as he panted.

Zack looked down at his chest in confusion as he felt his heart racing and he swallowed hard as his eyes flickered back to the blonde still holding his wrists still trying to get his breath back.

'Oh fucking great' Zack mentally groaned in his head and he licked his lips whilst Cloud released his wrists hesitantly with a playful smile, his body language telling Zack that he was no on 'tickle-guard'.

"Hey, are you feeling alright? You look really pale," Cloud frowned and he raised his hand pressing it against Zack's forehead to feel if he had a temperature.

Zack beamed under the touch of the caring teenager and Cloud tilted his head, removing his hand at the same time and Zack pouted.

"Hmm, maybe you're just strange," Cloud snorted at Zack's insulted expression and he patted Zack's black spiky hair, instinctively shuffling closer on his knees to Zack who's eyes grew in size as he noticed how close their faces were. He felt like a teenager, blushing over their new crush then running home and scribbling their name all over their desk and books.

"And maybe I'll tickle you again," Zack threatened with a wink and Cloud's fingers that were knotted in his spies suddenly froze, "I'm not strange, I'm just bloody adorable," Zack replied and he placed his hand on his muscular chest with a cheeky wink and Cloud puffed air out of his mouth in a sort of laugh as he shook his head, his fingers returning to playing with Zack's hair, "what are you doing?" Zack asked as Cloud moved closer so he could reach down the end of Zack's long hair.

"Well you played with my hair within the first hour of meeting me, I wanted to see whether your hair was soft as well," Cloud explained as he pointed his finger upwards and Zack stared at him blankly for a while, his lips tugging up into a full smile at the sheer innocence of Cloud's reasoning.

"And is it as soft as you thought?" Zack quizzed as he peered up, without moving his head, at Cloud who was now stroking the hair that rested on the top part of Zack's back.

"Softer," Cloud responded as he almost climbed onto Zack's lap to look at the strange hair the man had and Zack blushed as his face was now pressed firmly against Cloud's chest. The scent of coffee and Lynx deodorant wafting into Zack's nose, attacking his self control.

'Kiss him' Zack was shocked by his own thoughts as Cloud continued to play with his hair and it would be the perfect moment too. His mother was downstairs out of the way and he and Cloud were in a comfortable embrace, plus the added bonus of the fact that they got on like they had known each other for years already.

"Whoa!" Cloud whispered as he moved a few strands of hair away from Zack's ear, staring at the earring that was sitting there, "that's so cool," Cloud poked it with interest and he then sat on his knees in front of Zack who was on his knees as well, "I have an earring too," Cloud moved his blonde bangs to the side and shifted his head to the side to show Zack, "mum gave them to me for my sixteenth," Cloud added the extra detail and Zack nodded.

"It's great!" he clapped his hands together, "she has better taste than _my _mum," Zack blew the antennae piece of hair out of his eyes as he rolled them, allowing his head to fall heavily into his hand as Cloud raked his finger through his hair to sort it back into place.

"I think your mum has good taste…although she did produce _you_," Cloud poked Zack's chest, "Mister 'I can't tell what gender people are'," Cloud was defiantly quick with the sarcastic comments and this impressed Zack because it meant Cloud had a sense of humor.

"Alright, Mister 'I look like the other gender so much so it's understandable that people may mistake me for a girl'," Zack replied back with an equal amount of sarcasm that Cloud had given him. He watched as Cloud smiled at his response and his hand once again came up to his face, this time pulling at the antennae piece of hair.

"I thought _I _had strange hair," Cloud muttered to himself and he tried to force the piece of hair to stay with the rest that was behind Zack's hair, but it would stubbornly ping back making both of them laugh each time that Cloud tried to do it, "ugh this piece of hair is the biggest fail I have ever come across!" Cloud growled and Zack's eyes latched onto his lips and he caught his breath finding himself wanting to kiss them more, "okay, I'm sorry but this is going to annoy me to no end," Cloud glared as he got up breaking Zack's trance and he rifled through his drawers, yanking out a green hair brush and he climbed back onto his knees on the bed in front of Zack, this time brushing the piece of hair back and sighed as it managed to stay there for a few more seconds than it did before, deflating as it suddenly flipped backwards again, "for the love of g.." Zack's lips were upon his quickly, rubbing them passionately against his own. Cloud slowly closed his eyes as the hairbrush slipped from his fingers and they grasped tightly as he fisted Zack's hair.

Zack's arms wrapped tightly around Cloud, his left hand grabbing the back of Cloud's hair whilst his right hand grabbed at his waist, pushing the boy gently onto his back say they lay on the bed.

**Yeah I'm just that cruel to end it on a sexy cliffhanger, why? Because I am what people would call the 'fanfiction teaser'. So what happens next in this oh so fucking weird story? I'm not revealing anything except that I will have to start putting more warnings up soon O_O**


	4. Chapter 4

I love everyone who has reviewed so far and I cannot believe the amount of alerts and favorites this story has gotten! Thank you so much! ^^

I don't own the characters nor the game of which they come from, just the plot of my fanfiction.

Situations Change

Zack panted as he began to kiss down Cloud's neck, his eyes shut in concentration as he sucked on the soft, pale skin of the blonde beauty in his arms.

Cloud quietly moaned as he shyly placed his arms around Zack's neck, stretching his head to the side so that Zack could get more access. His young heart beating manically as he bit down on his bottom lip.

'Seventeen…he's…' Zack's lips slowly stopped on Cloud's neck and he gasped loudly, throwing himself off of the blonde with his hand over his mouth, his eyes meeting Cloud's beautiful startled ones.

"Did…did I do something wrong?" Cloud frowned as he sat, crossing his legs on the bed and Zack licked his lips.

Cloud was still a child in the eyes of the law and he had just thrown himself at him like a lion catching its prey. His heart gave a horrible jolt as he suddenly realized that he could lose his position as a first class SOLDIER for this.

"Zack?" he jumped as Cloud's hands wrapped around his arm, tugging on it to get his attention.

"I'm so sorry," Zack whispered and pulled his arm out of the Chocobo's grasp, rubbing his fingers on his temples with a serious look on his face.

"Why?" Cloud's face was once again lit by his graceful smile, "I liked it," Zack whined at the response and froze as Cloud stood on his tip toes and placed a warm, gentle, shy kiss on his lips and he grabbed Cloud by the shoulders gently pushing him backwards.

"Stop it," he whispered and avoided looking at Cloud's hurt expression, "you're still a _child_, Cloud and I took advantage of you," Zack explained as he took in a deep breath.

"What?" Cloud couldn't understand why this was hurting so much when he had only met the man but his heart was aching, he felt connected to Zack and for once someone actually turned up when they had invited him out…and now he was trying to leave, "how could you take advantage of me when I _wanted _you to kiss me?" he blushed lightly as he said those last words and Zack wanted to smile at him, but he had to hold up a front and get away from him, he could get both himself and Cloud into trouble.

"I have to go, Cloud," he said after a long silence and he squirmed as he saw the blonde's eyes start to dampen as tears rose in them, "but thank you for the invite…I guess I'll see you around," he added shortly before he turned and began to walk away.

Cloud watched him for a while, chewing the inside of his cheek before he darted from his room, he was _not _going to be abandoned by anyone else.

He didn't even stop to tell his mother where he was going and he slammed the door behind him, catching the attention of Zack who was already half way up the road.

"So you get what you want and then you just take off?" Cloud hissed as his hands clenched tightly and his eyes became menacing.

"I'm sorry?" Zack raised his eyebrow in shock; he wasn't like that at all.

"_Everyone _took off once they got what they wanted from and I _never _gave more than a few tears over them!" Cloud whacked his hand across Zack's chest hard, "I thought we were getting on, weren't we?" Cloud cursed himself mentally as a few tears left the corners of his eyes and Zack felt guilt rip through him, he hated to see anyone cry _especially _when he was the cause of their hurt.

"Cloud," he raised his hand to put it on the boys shoulder but Cloud slapped it away harshly.

"Don't touch me," he murmured, "you're just like everyone else!" he gave Zack one last upset glance before he took off back towards his house leaving Zack gripping his t-shirt.

The raven clenched his jaw tightly as he scolded himself for being so hurtful towards Cloud, if he hadn't been so _stupid _then Cloud wouldn't be crying, they would still be friends and he would probably be having a good time with Cloud and his mother.

He rested his back against the wall and shook his head, sighing loudly.

"Shit,"

**Sucks when friendships break down huh? Reviews are much loved like Zack and Cloud here!**

**Cloud: wow, so you turned me into a typical depressed teenager and we aren't even in the fifth chapter yet?**

**Zack: At least she didn't make you seem to be a jackass!**

**Cloud: * laughs * I guess so.**

**Me: HEY! I could easily have made you out to **_**actually **_**be a woman Cloud and **_**you **_**Zachary Fair, I could have made Reno jump you but I resisted because I'm such a nice person ^^**

**Zack and Cloud: Okay, Okay.**


	5. Chapter 5

_I love everyone who has reviewed so far and I cannot believe the amount of alerts and favorites this story has gotten! Thank you so much! ^^_

_I don't own the characters nor the game of which they come from, just the plot of my fanfiction._

Situations Change

**Chapter V**

Cloud stretched his arms in the air to relieve himself of his tight back as he dumped his deliver bag on the counter of the bar that Tifa worked in, smiling as he saw her already pouring him a glass of water.

He sat down as Tifa placed the glass in front of him, leaning across the counter to give him a small hug.

"Did you mange to get there on time?" Tifa asked as she eyed the plain brown bag that Cloud had tossed on the counter.

"I need a motorcycle," Cloud chuckled as he ran his hands through his slightly windswept hair, "I was so out of breath when I got there the guy had to give me about five cups of water," Tifa laughed as she watched her friend shake his head with a daft grin on his face, "it's not funny Tifa," he added but failed at trying to be serious and started to laugh with her.

"At least you delivered," Tifa pointed out and looked up as another customer entered the bar, "excuse me," Tifa sighed and reluctantly walked away from her friend that was gulping down his water quickly to sooth the sore dryness that had formed there.

Cloud matted his fringe down with his leather gloved hands and shook his head from side to side trying to knock his tiredness away from him, soon he was leaning his body across the bar with his head in his arms and he sighed heavily as sensed someone sitting next to him.

_Personal space invaded much? _He giggled at his own thoughts before looking up at the person beside him, his eyebrows shooting up high as he noticed their strikingly red hair first and then how long it was as it trailed down t he slender mans back.

His skin was pale but more coloured than Clouds and he had two red tattoos sitting on his high cheek bones, reminding Cloud a little of a fish.

"No offence man," the red haired man turned to him with a cheeky smirk, "but you look like shit, yo," he snorted as his bright blue eyes examined the teenager in front of him, he had dust marks creeping up on his soft cheeks and his black jeans were also coated with brown land dust.

Cloud was taken a back by this man's rudeness and arched one of his thin blonde eyebrows, "you're a Turk, you have _no _room to talk," he remarked with a coy smile and the man threw his head back with a throaty laugh.

"Good one kid, but you still look worse than me, did you fall in a mud pit?" Cloud watched him take a swig of his alcoholic beverage.

"No, I work for my family's delivery service just down the road, I had to run to my destination," Cloud explained as he kicked hit boots against the bar of the stool he was sitting on.

"Sucks to be you, yo," the other peeled his blazer off of his shoulders, revealing his un tucked white shirt that had three of the top buttons undone allowing Cloud to see the pale, thin but yet perfectly carved chest that the guy had, "but unless you've ever crashed a helicopter _with _your boss and your friends in it with you, then you really shouldn't be complaining about your delivery job dude," the Turk chortled and then held his hand out to the teenager, "My names Reno," he introduced with a sly smile as his half lidded eyes seemed to be checking Cloud's form out.

"Cloud," Reno frowned as their hands connected in a small handshake, that name sounded familiar to him for some reason but he pushed it to the back of his mind as his hand moved away from Cloud's.

"Weird name," Reno gulped his drink down in one go and shook the empty glass at Tifa who jogged over to them after serving another person.

"Same again?" she asked with a polite smile but a little curious as to why this guy was talking with Cloud.

"Go for it," Reno shrugged his shoulders and grinned as he managed to lock eyes with her and Tifa cleared her throat with a light blush on her cheeks.

"Coming right up," she answered quietly and looked up to smile at Cloud before she rushed over towards the pumps to refill Reno's glass.

"Oooooh, you and her a _thing_?" Reno winked and Cloud put his hand over his mouth to try and stop him erupting into a fit of laughter.

"No," he chuckled and waved his hand at Reno who frowned at the boy in front of him.

"Hey, what's so funny?" he adjusted the goggles on his head and pulled at his ponytail as he felt it coming loose.

"Lets put it this way," Cloud snickered, "I don't really swing that way," he smirked at the surprised reaction molding onto Reno's face and he brushed his blonde bangs out of his eyes a bit jumping as Reno allowed another laugh to fall from his lips.

"Don't worry dude, I don't swing that way much either," Reno grinned and slapped his hand on Cloud's back in a friendly manner but it still made the blonde wince.

"_Much_?" Cloud asked as Tifa returned with the glass and handed it to Reno and opened her mouth to say something before she was called away by somebody else and she sighed heavily before moving away from them again.

"Yeah, I mean it's fine if you just like one gender and all but I get bored very easily and I like to have a variety," Reno used his hands as he spoke to him before he put his lips to his glass and took a small mouthful.

"So in other words I could be forgiven for saying that you're actually a man whore?" Cloud gasped loudly as he was almost pulled off of his stool as Reno threw an arm around his shoulders laughing again.

"I like you kid, you're weird but ya got a sense of humor I'll give ya that," Reno clunked his teeth together as he leaned against Cloud, feeling the effect of alcohol started to dance in his mind.

Cloud cringed as Reno poked his cheek with his finger and he snorted as Reno let out the loudest burp he had ever heard.

"You're such a lightweight," Cloud noted and jerked his shoulder upwards to try and get rid of the red head but it just made Reno curl into him more and he whined to get Tifa's attention.

Tifa turned after she heard the familiar sound of Cloud's voice and tilted her head as she saw the boy trapped within the grasp of a drunk, sleeping Reno who was now snoring with his mouth wide open.

"He only had six glasses!" Tifa gasped as she helped Cloud lift him off of his shoulders and allowed Reno to fall onto the bar with his hands dangling off as he continued to sleep.

"I always get the weird ones huh?" Cloud sighed as he thought back to a week ago when he had last seen the SOLDIER that had been invading his dreams ever since.

"I find that a little insulting," Tifa placed her hands on her hips and Cloud shook his head quickly.

"I meant…oh forget it," he dropped his head onto the bar and smiled as he felt Tifa run his fingers through his hair comfortingly and her arm came around his waist, pulling him towards her body so that she could properly hold him.

"You just need to be more aware of who you make friends with Cloud, it's not your fault that you're such a nice guy," Tifa ran her fingers across his cheek as Cloud's head was on her stomach, her arms coming around his neck and Cloud put a hand on her hip.

"Thanks Tifa," he had always been grateful that Tifa was his friend as she had defiantly been his rock throughout all of his hard times in life, apart from his mother; Tifa was his favourite person to be around.

"No problem but I think you should take him home," Tifa giggled as she jabbed her thumb towards Reno who was only just waking up.

"Fine," Cloud murmured and Tifa moved back around the bar whilst he heaved Reno's arm back around his shoulders and placed a hand around his waist to help both of them balance, "where do you live Reno?" Cloud asked loudly into Reno's ear.

"Mmmh Fmmmptym Street," Reno slurred as he stumbled against Cloud.

"Thank you that was incredibly helpful," Cloud said dryly as he pulled the man out of the bar with a wave to Tifa and grunted as Reno began to walk without warning him first and he decided to stay quiet and follow him seen as though it seemed he knew he was going home.

"I hoooope that myyyy buddy iiiisss in," it seemed that when Reno was drunk he extended his words too much and Cloud couldn't help but find this hilarious.

"I'm sure he'll be thrilled to see _you_," Cloud smiled as Reno looked at him with an adorable look on his drunken face.

"D'aaaaww thank you Clouuuudd," Reno's arm tightened around Cloud's neck in a sideways hug as he directed them down a long pitch-black road, which made Cloud suddenly feel uneasy as he could sense something bad lay down there for him.

"Um, Reno where are we going?" Cloud whispered as his eyes flickered around as he felt his paranoia kicking into hyper drive.

"Myyyy hooome," Reno replied slowly and his foot slipped, kicking Cloud in the ankle.

"Reno!" Cloud hissed and practically threw himself into the man's arms as he heard a car backfire from behind them, his heart racing as he began to snigger at his stupid reaction.

"Coooomfy are we?" Cloud froze as he became aware that he was in fact pressing himself into Reno's chest with Reno's arm still wrapped around his neck making it look as if they were a couple in a passionate embrace.

"Sorry," Cloud muttered as he moved away from his chest and Reno began walking again with a cheeky grin plastered on his face as he fumbled blindly for his blazer, whimpering as he remembered he had left it on the stool back at the bar, now he _really _had to hope his friend was in.

"Heeere we are!" Reno giggled as he weakly knocked on the door to his house and Cloud snorted at his attempt but both his smile and laughter faded quickly as he came face to face with the guy who had taken over his mind.

_Guess I know what that bad feeling was now._

"Reno!" Zack rolled his eyes at his drunk, giggling friend and looked to apologize to the person holding him up and his heart skipped a beat as his eyes connected with sparkling blue ones, "Cloud?" he stepped aside to allow Cloud to help Reno inside, smiling slightly as he watched the kind blonde continue to help Reno out though he knew that he would be stuck with Zack who had hurt him.

Cloud let out a small shriek as Reno pulled him down on the sofa with him, his arms trapping the teenager as he buried his face in the crook of Cloud's neck.

"Thanks for bringing him back," Zack scratched the back of his neck and tutted as Reno began to sway Cloud from side to side on the sofa, humming a song that none of them knew. Cloud didn't reply and his eyes flickered to Reno's now sleeping form that had fallen on to his lap.

"Cloud, I'm sorry abo…" Cloud shot him a glare that made a shiver run down his back.

"I know, you're 'sorry for what you did'," Cloud used his fingers as air quotes, "but you barely know we barely know each other so drop it," he snapped and gritted his teeth as he knew he was going to regret speaking to Zack like that later on.

Zack hesitated before he sat down beside Cloud and drummed his hands on his thighs a little before he spoke, "we…can't be _like that_," he whispered as they shared a glance.

"But..." Zack put his hand over Cloud's mouth.

"Please try and see it from _my _position Cloud," Zack almost begged, trying not to hurt the blonde seen as though that it seemed he was getting a second chance to make amends with him, "I'm a twenty three year old man who bumps into a seventeen year old _boy _and kisses him in his _bedroom_, planning to go further than just _kissing _him and I happen to be a SOLDIER who is _first class_," Zack watched Cloud's reaction incase he had hurt him again.

"I guess that makes…sense," Cloud said slowly as his face softened a little and jumped as Zack let out a somewhat strangled shriek of joy.

"But we could still be friends?" he smiled hopefully, "I mean we got on and everything and it was like we had known each other for years wasn't it…or was that just me?" Zack frowned at himself as he scratched the side of his head in wonder.

"It wasn't just you," Cloud felt a smile appear on his face despite that he was trying to make Zack feel guilty, but he couldn't help but feel so comfortable around him, "it did feel like that," he and Zack were suddenly interrupted by an almighty snore erupting from Reno and they had the hold their breath to stop them from waking him up, their bodies shaking as they did so.

"Friends?" Zack giggled as he held out his hand, his insides warming instantly as Cloud's much smaller hand gently grasped his.

"Friends," Cloud nodded before he helped Zack heave Reno up from the sofa and walked his sleeping form up the stairs.

**I like the chapter, I enjoy long chapters instead of short ones so this was very refreshing for me to write haha And Cloud is no longer depressed now that he has Mister Zachary Fair as his friend again ^^ ** **How is their relationship going to last when they both know how the other feels? Will Zack want to risk his superior position? Shrugs you'll have to stay to find out ^^**

**Reviews are very much appreciated! **


	6. Chapter 6

_I do not own the characters nor the games of which they come from, only the plot of my fanfiction!_

_Thank you so much the people who have liked this story enough to review, favourite and put on alert, you honestly have __no__ idea how much it all means to me and if you could continue your kindness, it would be even cooler ^_^_

Situations Change – Chapter VI

Zack groaned as he perched himself on a half broken wall as he decided to take a break from another one of his pointless SOLDIER duties and clasped his hands together with a yawn. His eyes fluttering over a few teenage girls who were giggling amongst themselves and he snorted at how cliché the whole scene looked, all five of them were hunched over the only brunette in the groups phone.

_Am in a chick flick? _He felt his body turned horribly cold as one of the blonde girls turned her head around, her brown eyes meeting his and she squealed loudly and turned back to her friends before they all turned around and looked at him.

_Jeeze what now? _He nearly fell backwards off of the wall as all five girls came charging towards him waving magazines in their hands with blushing faces as they came to a halt in front of the raven.

"Please sign this!" the blonde with brown eyes beamed as she held out her magazine with both hands with a shy expression and Zack raised his eyebrow as he looked down at the front cover, his eyes bulging as he came face to face with none other than his own half naked body spread out across the magazine front cover.

"Wh…" he stopped himself from acting idiotic in front of the girls and swallowed hard as he pushed a smile onto his lips, "sure thing," he grabbed the black pen from the girls pocket and she gasped as he began scribbling his name down on the magazine before he turned to sign the others, handing the pen back to the girl once he was done.

"Thank you," another blonde with green eyes whispered as she hugged her magazine to her chest and Zack just nodded before watching them run away from him giggling at their new found autographs.

_How the hell did they get that picture? I was in my damn house at that time! _Zack clunked his teeth together as he quickly rifled through his trousers and brought out his phone, scrolling down to the only person he knew was good with computers, Cloud.

After Cloud had taken Reno home, Zack had finally managed to get back into Cloud's good books and the very next day they were spending all day together at an Internet café where Cloud had shown him various websites where Zack could contact him on if he wasn't answering his phone, but whilst showing Zack was he could _innocently _do on the computer he started to show what he could _non innocently _do by hacking into various websites that had stolen some of the pictures he had uploaded on his other sites and deleting them.

"Hey Zack, what's up?" the happy voice of the teenager made Zack's body tingle and he rolled his eyes at himself.

"Would it be okay if I come over, I need you to help me with something," Zack asked with a grin as he stood up from the wall and began to do one-armed squats to stretch himself.

"Sure as long as this _something _isn't too difficult I'll see what I can do, come over when you're ready, I'm free all day," Cloud laughed and then hung up on him.

"Z-Zack!" Cloud's mother stuttered as she opened the door to see the SOLDIER who had now changed from his uniform to his plain black short sleeved t-shirt and his baggy blue jeans.

"Afternoon," he turned on his charm and made his eyes a little heavier causing the blonde to blush heavily and she quickly turned and shouted for her son to get down and greet his guest.

"I'm coming!" Cloud called out as Zack stepped inside trying to stop himself from laughing as Cloud's mother moved rather quickly into the kitchen breathing heavily.

_I'm so cruel sometimes _he jumped as the breath was forced out of him as a small body slammed against him in a tight hug.

"Hey Cloud," he smiled as he felt the teen squeeze him tighter around his waist and he ruffled the soft blonde spikes.

"Hey," Cloud murmured back as he let go of the man sharply as he realized he was getting overfriendly with him again and cleared his throat, "so what do you need me for?" Cloud asked as he grabbed at his other arm.

"Well these girls had magazines with…pictures of me on them and I wanted to find out _how _seen as though I haven't ever done a photo shoot in my entire life," Zack explained with a frown creasing his face, "I want you to find out some information seen as though you're the computer wizard," he chuckled and Cloud nodded at him with a small giggle before the boy turned and waved his hand for Zack to follow him up the stairs to his room.

"Right, so do you know the name of this magazine?" Cloud asked as he plopped down on his swiveling computer chair and spun towards his desk, shaking the computer mouse to get rid of the screensaver. Zack felt embarrassed at the title he was about to say and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Sexy SOLDIER Files," Zack blushed slightly as he heard Cloud choke and the Chocobo clamped his hands over his mouth to prevent more laughter erupting from him, his teeth biting down hard on his bottom lip as he typed it into the search engine.

Zack smirked as he flicked the side of Cloud's head and pulled up another chair beside him.

"Oh my…" Cloud went wide eyed as he clicked on the website and blushed heavily as thousands of pictures of Zack popped up on the screen with different titles underneath them, "**this is a Zack Fair Fan Club**," Zack bolted up in his seat and his jaw fell open as Cloud continued to scroll down the page, "Zack Fair Photo Gallery, Zack Fair Shop, Zack Fair Fan Art, Zack Fair Forum, Zack Fair Fanfi-_fanfiction!_" Cloud shrieked and turned to Zack who had turned dramatically pale faced.

"Stalkers," Zack grunted and rubbed his face with his hands, sighing heavily as he buried his face in his arms that were crossed over Cloud's desk.

"It says here that 'Sexy SOLDIER Files' is the official magazine for Zack Fair fans," Cloud read out and giggled as Zack whined again, "I never realized that SOLDIER's were such celebrities," he grinned and froze as he came across one particular picture, heat racing around his body.

It was a photo that had been taken from someone standing outside of Zack's bathroom window as you could clearly see the glass. Zack had his hands behind his head with his head arched upwards with his eyes shut looking as if he was at complete ease, his muscular torso on display with a few water droplets trickling down his stomach towards the black towel that was wrapped around his waist.

_Wow _Cloud felt his heart fluttering as he then looked to Zack, his blue eyes traveling over his body with x ray vision now that he knew what most of the man looked like and he nearly jumped a foot in the air as Zack moved his head up, his eye directly looking at the screen and he blushed as he saw the picture that Cloud had discovered.

"They were outside my bathroom?" Zack shrieked and grabbed the mouse from Cloud's hands and searched through the site anxiously, not noticing the teenager beside him wearing such a dazed expression.

"Apparently," Cloud said quietly as he blinked a few times to try and snap himself out of gazing at his friend and turned back to the computer, snatching the mouse back.

"What are you doing?" Zack asked as he watched Cloud's fingers dance over the keyboard like a maniac, the screen changing to a blank white screen and various symbols appeared up on the screen.

"I'm hacking in to try and find out who this photographer is," Cloud replied and smiled as Zack moved closer to watch him type.

"You can do that?" Zack asked impressed with the younger males knowledge.

"I can do many things," Cloud's voice hinted something and Zack picked up on it but he didn't want to say anything in case he ended up hurting the blonde again. He looked at the screen as a large grey box appeared on it with a small paragraph on it.

"Lixia Kai," Zack read out and scowled as he read that she had been photographing for a magazine dedicated to Angeal, Genesis _and _Sephiroth.

"You better keep your head down for a while Zack," Cloud put his arm around his friends shoulders and cuddled into his side, his cheek rested on his shoulder with his arm, "these people could cause all sorts of problems for you," Cloud warned him and Zack nodded as he rubbed his chin.

"Hang on," Zack said with a sudden serious tone to his voice and he clicked the cross on the small grey box and the picture that was covered shone brightly on the screen, "no way," his heart stopped as he stared at the picture.

"That's…_us_," Cloud cried as he too stared at the picture in shock.

"They're stalking you as well?" Zack frowned and he protectively pulled Cloud's chair closer to his.

"It's because _you _were with me," Cloud explained and Zack rolled his eyes, "but I don't understand…we were in my back garden when this photo was taken," he flinched as he got up and raced to his bedroom window, peering down at his garden, "that means that she's been here," he felt Zack's hand press on his lower back and he blushed heavily as he began to panic about the new situation and his arms wrapped around Zack's.

"It's alright Cloud," Zack bent down a little and held his face gently in his large hands, "I'll make sure nothing happens to you," he grinned as Cloud smiled at him.

"Really?" Cloud laughed as Zack nodded his head like a child.

"Of course!" he exclaimed and then pulled the boy into a comforting hug, "we're friends right?"

**Please Review! **

**The plot is **_**finally **_**starting to bleed through now haha and it gets a lot more…twisted as it goes on just to warn all of you. Cloud, oh dear lord I just want to hug him all of the time which is why Zack is so touchy feely with him in this story and plus Zack is like that anyways haha and the magazine title came from the bazaar depths of my mind that not even the most perverted people will go because it's so freaking twisted.**


	7. Chapter 7

_I do not own the characters nor the games of which they come from, just the plot of my fanfiction. Thank you so much for the reviews, alerts and favourites, you guys really rock._

Situations Change – Chapter VII

"Why are you so jumpy today?" Tifa giggled as she pulled at her school sweater and opened her locker that was just above Cloud's.

Cloud looked at her with an odd expression etched across his face as he too opened his locker and exchanged his science book for his English book, "I guess I'm just feeling a little unwell," he shrugged with a smile and ducked as Tifa went to shut the door to her locker.

"Suffering from withdrawal symptoms?" Tifa asked with a cheeky grin appearing on her lips as she hugged her books to her chest.

"What?" Cloud frowned as he shut his locker and stuffed the key back into his black school trousers.

"You and Zack have spent everyday together ever since you guys made up," Tifa explained as she reached out and placed her finger tips on her friend's blushing cheeks and she stroked his face with her thumb, "I think it's adorable really," she added as she allowed her hand to fall.

"Tifa," Cloud rolled his eyes, "there's nothing going on between us," he added as they made their way down the corridor towards their classroom.

"I never said there was," Tifa sounded a little offended but then laughed slightly, "I do now though," she laughed more as Cloud groaned and bowed his head in mock shame.

"_Honestly_ there isn't anything going on," Cloud pulled on his blonde bangs shyly as he bit down on his lip. He _knew_ Tifa could read him like a book, which was why he was avoiding her face, as he knew that she would be grinning at him.

"I see the way you look at him," she whispered and grabbed his hand in hers to get his attention and she couldn't help but feel the need to hug him as she saw his adorable blush appear on his pale skin once more.

"Alright Miss Mind Reader," Cloud teased as they entered their classroom; heading straight for the back desk like always so that less attention would be placed on them by their teacher.

"You can hardly deny the fact that he's attractive," Tifa pointed out with a wave of her hand as she placed her books and black inked pen on the desk as Cloud sat in his chair closest to the wall.

_So good looking that I swear that masturbation is an official exercise _Cloud blinked a few times after he shook his thoughts out of his head, "I guess," Cloud shrugged his shoulders as he said this, his mind wandering off as their tall blonde haired English teacher started the class.

Cloud had been worried about Zack ever since they had discovered his overly active fan club a few weeks ago; he had wanted to stay by the man's side just incase something happened to him. Though Zack had made it clear that they couldn't be together, he still cared for the raven more than he should and he found it so frustrating that his dreams were constantly about him and that he had found himself texting Zack everyday like a loved up school girl asking him how he was. He had started to worry that he was annoying Zack with his affectionate behaviour but when he had confronted Zack about it, the SOLDIER just said that he found it cute that Cloud was so attached him.

"Cloud," Tifa's hand rubbed his arm sweetly and tucked a few strands of hair behind his ear as her best friend finally snapped out of his daydream, "class ended five minuets ago," Cloud blinked a few times in surprise before glancing at his watch and snorting at himself, he had to learn how to control his thoughts so that he could at least copy some class notes down.

"Damn," he muttered as he quickly followed Tifa out of the classroom, smiling as they hugged one another, "have fun in history," he chuckled as Tifa rolled her eyes.

"Oh I will; you have fun in maths," Tifa teased back and held him for a little bit longer before pulling away and jogging down the corridor so that she wouldn't be late.

Maths, great another book change already Cloud skulked back over to his locker and yanked the door open once he had unlocked it and switched his books over again, stopping to smile at the photograph he had stuck on the door that was of him and Tifa when they had been at the beach…the day he had met Zack.

Cloud jumped as he felt something brush lightly through his hair and a strange noise like cutting strings followed. He clapped his hand to the back of his head and pulled at one of his spikes raising his eyebrows as it felt a lot shorter than the other spikes.

_Someone cut my hair? _He spun around and glanced down the hall to catch whoever was responsible and swallowed hard as he noticed that he was alone.

_Lixia _The name made Cloud instinctively shiver and he pulled his phone out of his pocket, suddenly not feeling well; he knew that only one person would pick him up this early into a school day.

Zack, please come and get me from school, make something up! I think I just had an encounter with Lixia.

Cloud quickly sent the text and tapped the phone against his teeth for a few seconds. Shutting the door of his locker he then turned and made his way to class, his blue eyes flicking to the sides of him every now and again.

"You're late Strife," Cloud blushed heavily as the entire class turned to face him and he grabbed his arm shyly, "do you have a reason?" Cloud shook his head and quickly made his way to the back, trying to ignore the giggling coming from the more immature students.

Cloud was starting to get impatient and desperate as he continued to watch the hands of the clock slowly crawl around it circular shape and his eyes shifted to the classroom window he was sat next to, biting his nails anxiously as he waited for Zack to suddenly appear.

"Yo, I'm looking for Cloud Strife," the voice made the blonde nearly fall out of his seat in fright and he tutted at himself as he realized he had been staring in the direction that the fire exit was which was why he hadn't noticed Zack coming down the corridor.

A few girls in the corner gasped loudly and huddled their seats together as Zack's tall, muscular figure leaned against the doorframe casually.

Cloud looked to his black haired teacher who was pushing his thickly framed glasses up his nose.

"Any particular reason SOLDIER?" Zack grinned at the acid that was clearly tracing the teacher's words.

"Yeah, his mother requested that I pick him up to take him to his hospital appointment," Zack lied perfectly and looked over at Cloud with a sly wink which caused the girls to glare at Cloud as he stood up timidly.

"Fine, you have permission to leave," his teacher waved his hand in the air and narrowed his eyes as he noticed the smile that was plastered over Cloud's face.

'Thank you' Cloud mouthed at the raven who nodded slightly and waved to the class as he left with the blonde.

"So what was up with that text?" Zack asked once they were out of the school, making their way through the large car park.

"I don't know for certain but," Cloud rubbed the back of his head, "I think Lixia cut a piece of my hair, it's defiantly shorter than before," he explained quietly as he felt his face heat up again when he heard Zack laugh.

"So Lixia is a student now?" Zack raised his eyebrows, "that would explain the childish photography," he noted to himself.

"I don't know," Cloud sighed as his shoulder dropped, "it could have been just another weird kid but…I have a feeling it was her," he knew he sounded mental and he covered his face with his hands as he tried to his the infuriating blushing, his heart jumping against his chest hard as he felt Zack pull him into a tight embrace.

"This is why I didn't want to leave you alone, I _knew _something was going to happen," Zack grunted and he moved away from Cloud, placing a hand on his head as he squatted a little so they were eye level, "nothing else happened did it?" he let out a small sigh of relief as Cloud shook his head, "good, now climb aboard explorer!" Zack suddenly yelled as he shifted around Cloud and patted the giant motorcycle that was sat behind them.

"Whoa!" Cloud gasped as he stared at the glossy black and gold motorcycle, his hands brushing over it as his eyes glittered with interest, "This is a Fenrir!" he nearly squealed as he began to check out the back of the bike.

"Never took you as a motorcycle nut," Zack joked as he threw him a helmet, "make sure to hold on tight, I may be a SOLDIER but I am curiously irresponsible on the road," Zack half joked this time and snorted as he saw Cloud eagerly put the helmet on and wait for Zack to straddle the bike before getting on behind him, grinning to himself as he wrapped his arms around Zack's waist tightly, nearly moaning at the warmth he felt from him.

_This is __**so**__ cool! _Cloud smiled to himself as he heard the roar of the engine and he screamed out in excitement as the bike suddenly bolted down the road at such a fast speed that Cloud wondered how both he and Zack had stayed on the bike.

Zack swerved sharply around a corner as he grabbed a hold of Cloud's arms that were tightly around him and he shifted the younger males hands slightly so that he was safer.

The feeling of freedom and speed was so new to Cloud that he didn't want to get off of the bike anytime soon. This was what it was like being around Zachary Fair, first class SOLDIER. Fun and the feeling of wanting your interaction with him to end was like an itch on your back, because you knew that you would have to scratch it.

"And," Zack sang as the bike skidded into Cloud's driveway, "parked," he ended with a loud chuckle and switched the engine off.

"That was so _awesome_!" Cloud shrieked as he slipped off of the bike with the helmet tucked under his arm (somehow still holding perfectly neat hair though it had been crushed by the assaulting object).

"I would never have guessed," Zack replied with a warm smile, "you realize that I could hear you cheering over the noise of the bike right?" he threw his head back laughing as Cloud froze, staring at him wide eyed.

"I didn't even notice I was doing that," Cloud muttered to himself and he placed the helmet on the bike and searched for his house key as his mother was at work.

"No problem Cloudy, I just want to get to the computer; see if the psychopaths have updated," Zack scoffed as he and Cloud ran up the stairs.

Cloud set to work on setting up the computer whilst Zack pulled the chairs form the other side of the room over to the computer desk.

"Right," Cloud clapped his hands together and stretched them before he began typing into the search engine, a smirk appearing as he typed in the name of the magazine.

The screen automatically flashed with even more images that made both males feel very uncomfortable as most of them included Cloud as well.

"Wow," Zack grunted as Cloud continued to scroll down, his entire body suddenly stiffening in his seat as Cloud's scrolling froze over one of the pictures.

"**Zack Fair is Gay?**" Cloud whispered as he stared at the picture of the hug they had shared right before they had gotten onto Zack's Fenrir.

"But that was only fifteen minuets ago!" Zack shouted as he clenched his fists, "who the _hell _are these people, if my commanding officers see this I'm going to be a fucking laughing stock!" he cried as he pulled at his spiky black hair.

"Zack," Cloud held his hands to his chest nervously, "I'm scared," Zack looked up at him sharply and his expression softened before he pulled the boy onto his lap, hugging him tightly.

"I said I would protect you and I will," he reassured him as he rubbed Cloud's back friendly.

Cloud wrapped his arms around Zack's neck as his head rested on the mans strong shoulder, his eyes staring out of the window as he chewed on his bottom lip, flinching as a bright light suddenly shone through the window and Cloud gasped so dramatically that he actually caused himself to fall backwards off of Zack's lap and onto the floor.

"Are you okay?" Zack grabbed his wrists and heaved Cloud to his feet again.

"S-she's there, she's out there!" Cloud screamed as he rushed to the window and pushed it open forcefully, his eyes catching a figure dressed in black jumping over his garden fence and he winced as Zack suddenly shot out of the window passed him and skidded down, landing on the grass firmly on his feet.

"Zack!" Cloud yelled as he watched his friend jump over the fence after the figure, "idiot,"

Review please ^_^

**And honestly, I read this chapter through about ten times, if there are STILL mistakes, trust me I'm working on it. I am currently suffering from insomnia, and I haven't slept for three – four days now * sighs *.**

**Anyways, I enjoyed this chapter and I'm happy I finally got it up here as I had a lot of fun writing it, so hopefully you'll have fun reading it because things are going to turn a little bit ugly for our dears, Cloud and Zack very soon AND you get some Reno thrown in as well. And yes, Zack owns the Fenrir instead of Cloud haha**


	8. Chapter 8

I do not own the characters, nor the games of which they come from, just the plot of my fanfiction.

_Thank you for all the faves, alerts and reviews this story has gotten. It's beyond me as to why you all like this haha but please stay cool and doing what you're doing, I would appreciate it._

Situations Change – Chapter VIII

"Hey!" Zack yelled as he swung his muscular arms around his sides as he ran after the figure in black, still unable to see whether Lixia was in fact female or male as their hood was up on their head.

"Coming through!" Zack gasped as he skidded to a halt just before he ran straight into a group of teenagers that were smirking at him, knowing that they were blocking his path.

"Out of the way!" Zack growled as he pushed his way through the teenagers who just laughed at his desperation and carried on with whatever they were doing.

The figure wasn't that far in front of him which was a big surprise to the SOLDIER as he had just been held up. _Wow this guy is slow! _Zack smirked as he ran faster over to what seemed to be a _jogging _figure and he reached out and grabbed the person by the shoulder, forcing them to turn around and face them.

"Oh what the hell!" the girl screamed as she pulled her headphones out of her ears and pushed away from Zack with startled eyes, "don't touch me you pervert!" she scowled and Zack was taken back by the girls reaction, his eyes traveling down her front and he felt his face heat up fast as he noticed that the camera that had been swinging around figure's neck, was _not _around the girl he had caught.

"Sorry Miss, I thought you were somebody else," he apologized politely and allowed a warm smile to bleed onto his face and he felt a little better as he saw a blush creep onto the brunette's face, "I hope I didn't hurt your shoulder," he added as he swiveled his head around to look for the figure, but a low moan of annoyance brewed in the back of his throat as he realized he had completely lost eye sight of them.

"N-no you didn't, it's fine," the girl stuttered as she placed a hand on her shoulder and moved it around a bit, "see, it's all good," she smiled and twirled her headphones around in a circle.

"Good, sorry for the inconvenience Miss," Zack replied with a kind smile before he turned and ran back downheartedly towards Cloud's house. He sighed as he shook his head, his hair swaying a little as he slowed his running down as he approached the fence he had previously jumped over and grunted as he clambered back over to get to Cloud.

_I hope he's not annoyed with me _Zack chewed his bottom lip as he began to heave himself up the side of Cloud's house with ease and gripped the window sill as he jumped back into Cloud's bedroom which was…empty.

"Well is he at _your _house?" Cloud's panicked voice yelled from downstairs and Zack blinked a couple of times in confusion, he yanked the bedroom door open and quietly made his way down the stairs and peered through the banister at Cloud who had his back to him, phone pressed to his ear whilst his arm cuddled his waist.

"Reno I'm worried he's going to get hurt, he's been gone for half an hour!" Cloud pinched his waist harshly in agitation as he listened to Reno.

"Cloud, Zack is a first class SOLDIER, I doubt a _girl _is going to take him down," Reno chuckled on the other end of the line and Cloud giggled slightly at the image that popped into his head of Zack and a random girl, who had just beaten him at an arm wrestle though Zack's arm was twice the size of hers.

"I know, I know," Cloud sighed, "I…I just worry about him," he clunked his teeth together as he changed his leaning position so that the strain was released from his left leg, not even noticing Zack sitting on the stairs with a huge grin on his face as he listened to Cloud asking for him.

_Hurry up and turn eighteen _Zack thought as his fingers tapped against one another, his eyes gazing at the teenager still stressing on the phone to Reno. Zack knew it was impossible to fall in love so quickly after just short five weeks of knowing each other, but Zack had such strong feelings for the blonde that he knew if Cloud played the right strings on his heart anymore, he would be in _big _trouble trying to cover up the feelings of love towards him.

"Reno you sound just like Tifa," Cloud snorted and Zack snapped out of his daydream, leaning in closer on the stairs to listen, "we aren't a couple," Zack gripped the stair banister sharply.

"But you _must _see how Zack acts with you, surely you do right?" Reno whined with an urgent tone.

"Reno you were the one who apparently warned him about the age gap," Cloud stated with a laugh at his friends idiocy and he ran his finger through his thick blonde spikes.

"Welllllll… I changed my mind," Reno mused with a funny voice which just made Cloud laugh even more, warming Zack's body instantly as the sound rang in his ears.

"Just forget it Reno," Cloud snorted with a smile that he couldn't see, "just promise to phone me if he comes back home…I want to know if he's okay," he added with a softer voice as he swayed on the spot a bit, attracting Zack's eyes and they stared lustfully at the boys hips and backside.

"Sure thing, yo, see you Cloud!" Reno sighed and then hung up on him, leaving the dial tone to ring through Cloud's head like a knife cutting through butter.

Cloud chucked the phone onto the plump green sofa in his front room and slumped against the doorframe, his fingers tracing it as if he was running his fingers on top of a pet's head. His stunning blue eyes stinging harshly as the feelings of worry rushed back into his system.

_Please come back you __**idiot**__! _Cloud stopped himself before he punched the wall fully aware of the fact that it would possibly break his fingers if he did so and forced his clenched fist into his jeans, which he had changed into once Zack had darted out of his room.

Zack slowly got up from his spot on the stairs, letting go of the banister and silently made his way over to Cloud who sounded as if he was crying and Zack gathered his thoughts were right as he saw the boy's shoulder moving violently as a hand pressed to his pale face. It was then that Zack started to notice how much Cloud really cared about him; though it was far too early to fall in love, it wasn't too early to form unbreakable bonds between friends.

"Cloud," Zack whispered as he wrapped an arm around the blondes waist and he let out an '_ouff!' _as Cloud spun round in shock and threw his body at Zack's, holding him incredibly tight in his thin arms.

"You're safe," Cloud smiled into Zack's chest and he nuzzled his face into it a bit more, his nose taken in the masculine scent that beautifully stained Zack's skin and clothes.

Zack rubbed his back friendly and ruffled his hair, "yeah, but I lost sight of that bastard," he puffed out a ball of air as Cloud moved in his arms and looked up at him with a forgiving expression.

"I'd rather that than you getting hurt by your estranged fans," Cloud explained with a loud laugh and he tilted his head in worry as Zack's eyes avoided his, "what's wrong?" he asked and pouted as Zack moved away from him.

"I let that shit out of my sight and now they're going to continue to harass me…harass _you_," he mumbled the last part as he turned to look back at the short teenager who rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"We'll get them Zack," he encouraged him with a pat on the back, "we'll get them," he repeated and blushed as Zack's overly handsome face looked down at him as he hugged his arm with both of his.

"I know, I'm just worried about them doing something to you," Zack admitted, his lips pulling up into a shy but cheeky toothy smirk as he used his free hand to pat Cloud's head.

"They wouldn't dare," Cloud let go of Zack and placed his hands on he hips, puffing his chest out, "because I'm just so incredibly powerful," he joked to lighten the mood and it worked as Zack fell about laughing at his poor impression of superman.

"You're about as powerful as a flea," Zack remarked and shrieked, as he quickly ducked away from Cloud's hand, which came hurtling towards his head as instead hit nothing but air.

"To think I was worried about you!" Cloud sniggered as he jumped onto Zack's back before he had a chance to get back up and his legs wrapped around the man's waist, digging his heel sin slightly, "say it, say I'm a powerful being!" Cloud poked his cheek and stuck his tongue out at Zack as the raven grinned at his playfulness.

"No," Zack replied with a simple tone and Cloud glared at him.

"Well at least I can tell what gender people are," Cloud muttered into Zack's ear, his hot breath racing around it causing Zack to shiver slightly.

"Oh come _on_!" he cried as he jumped up and down to try and get the boy off of his back, "are you_ ever _going to let up on that?" he spun around quickly making Cloud lose his grip on Zack and he stumbled, his hand shooting out and grabbing Zack's shirt to stop himself from falling.

"Nope," Cloud winked at him and he squirmed with an adorable whimper escaping his lips as Zack's hands crept around his waist, which caused Cloud's heart to race.

"Thank you Cloud," Cloud frowned as Zack turned serious and his hands were pressed up against Zack's chest as the elder male pulled him into a tight embrace.

"Zack?" Cloud bit his bottom lip as felt Zack's breath brush over his face, their eyes now level as Zack bent his knees.

"For being there and for not giving up on me," Zack chuckled, "it's not everyday that you find a best friend like you," he added, hesitating before he placed a caring kiss on the boys forehead; smirking at the heavy blush that bloomed onto Cloud's cheeks.

Their faces stayed close together as their bodies continued to steal each other's body warmth, a new atmosphere completely overtaking the previously childish one.

_Don't do this to him, not again _Zack's thoughts were not heard by the owner as his fingers laced with Cloud's that were still on his chest and moved them so that they rested around his neck.

"You said we couldn't," Cloud whispered as he looked away from Zack and stared at his neck again.

"I know," Zack squeezed his eyes shut tightly as he tried to restrain himself and cleared his throat loudly as he kept Cloud where he was, "but I want to," he finally replied and opened his eyes to see the object of his desire stunned at his reply.

"Really?" Cloud felt excitement brewing in his stomach as Zack began to snicker as he moved his face close to his, their foreheads pressed together.

"Really," the raven confirmed with a grin, "but we can't tell anyone and we have to be careful in case we get caught," Cloud knew who Zack was referring to and nodded frantically as his heart thumped roughly against his chest as Zack's lips slowly touched his, electricity sparking through them as Cloud's fingers pulled as Zack's long spikes.

Zack moaned lightly as his tongue played gently with Cloud's, his arms tightening around the boys thin waist and he pulled away, a string of saliva keeping them connected.

"I feel more bad ass," Zack laughed and Cloud snorted at his new boyfriends reaction.

"And why is that?" Cloud giggled as Zack's lips pressed against his neck.

"Because we're going to be sneaking around," his voice became deeper as he nibbled the side of Cloud's neck, smirking as the blonde moaned shyly, "it makes our relationship more…_enticing _don't you think?" Cloud knew he was deliberately turning on his natural charm and he wanted to smack him around the head if it wasn't for the fact that Zack's charm was completely irresistible.

**List of things for you to do:**

**REVIEW! **

**Ignore any of the mistakes that are so clearly placed in this chapter as I still haven't recovered a proper sleeping pattern and I am currently having my wonderful friend (who is also named Zack xD) read through my story correcting it.**

**Stick around for the next chapter**

**Be happy at the fact that I am already half way through ANOTHER Zack x Cloud fanfiction.**

**Be annoyed with Tetsuya Nomura for saying that there probably wont be a remake of Final Fantasy VII on the Playstation 3 because to get it to the graphic ability of Final Fantasy XIII they will need THREE YEARS to make the game and he said he wont do it unless there's away to just do it in ONE YEAR. Damn you for keeping our hopes up Nomura. **


	9. Chapter 9

I do not own the characters nor the games of which they come from, just the plot of my fanfiction

Situations Change - Chapter IX

Reno awoke with a loud snort erupting from his nose and mouth, his read hair falling into his eyes a little, which always happened when he didn't have his goggles keeping it back and he let out a long noise of relief as he stretched on his bed like a dog or a cat would, sticking his backside in the air.

"Oooooh I want to sleep," he murmured still in his stretching position and he buried his face into his pillow sleepily, trying to ignore the SOLDIER in the next room who was laughing at something.

_Shut up man, trying to get some freaking sleep at…_Reno slowly turned his head to look at his clock on the side table, _ten in the morning _he grumbled in his mind as he pressed his face further into his pillow, his arms weakly by his side and his backside still swaying in the air slightly.

"_Zack!_" Reno's eyes shot open, "that _isn't funny!_" the red head rolled scrambled up on his bed and quickly pressed his ear to the wall to try and hear better. When had Cloud gotten to the house? It was ten in the morning, but that was early…and wasn't it a school day?

"Oh I beg to differ Chocobo," Zack's voice chuckled and another squeal erupted from the blonde, which made Reno flinch a little at the noise.

"You don't see me laughing at the weird pictures Lixia took of _you_!" Reno giggled as Cloud was starting to sound like a four year old and he slowly stumbled out of his room in his baggy white vest and blue boxer shorts, towards Zack's room where the two friends were still having a play argument.

"That's because even the weird ones are sex-_ow_!" Zack shrieked as Reno pushed the door open and the red cupped his hand around his mouth to lower the noise of his laughter as he saw Zack rubbing the back of his head as Cloud's hand hovered in the air after obviously smacking Zack around the head.

"Could you _be _any louder?" Reno raised his eyebrows at them as he continued to chuckle softly as he saw Cloud's blushing face as the teenager's eyes had difficulty stopping themselves from looking at Reno's form.

"We could," Zack grinned dopily, "but we may wake the neighbors and you know how sketchy they get," Zack rolled his eyes as he thought about his next-door residents.

"Yeah alright Mr Sarcasm," Reno remarked as he grabbed a spare chair from the side of Zack's room and plopped down next to the raven who was currently holding Cloud on his lap lovingly and Reno cringed, "ugh, you've turned into such a woman since you got together with bird head here, yo," Reno snickered as both Zack and Cloud shot him a death glare.

"Shoosh," Cloud smiled as he wrapped his arms around Zack's neck and buried his face in it so he could hide his blushing, his lips placing a small kiss on the warm skin of his SOLDIER.

"Oh how terrifying," Reno snorted as he turned his attention to Zack's computer screen and laughed at the picture of Cloud that was on there, "you look hilarious when cross eyed dude," he grinned and Cloud whined more, hiding his face again as Zack rubbed his back, secretly grinning at Reno.

"Another picture from Lixia," Zack said a little more seriously as he placed his chin on Cloud's shoulder, "she hasn't gotten any pictures of _us _yet," Zack explained with relief heavily dripping on his words and his eye instinctively went to his bedroom window, the curtains were drown thankfully.

"You two sure you should be dry humping around when this freak is out there, I mean…no offense and everything but if the other SOLDIER's find out that you're seeing a seventeen year old your ass will be on the line," Reno yawned loudly as he scrolled down the page a bit more, sniggering at the other pictures he found.

"But they _wont _find out," Cloud protested with a strong voice and moved his face so that he was looking into Zack's eyes and he smiled shyly, "I wont allow Zack to take the blame for it," he continued as his fingers laced through the man's thick black hair, leaning in to place a kiss on his lips.

"Please guys, I am still here y'know," Reno grinned as he saw Zack give him another warning glare and the lanky red turned back to the computer screen, clicking on '**Zack Fair Shop'**.

"What the hell are you doing?" Zack frowned and Cloud swiveled on his lap so that he could see as well and the blonde felt a little freaked out by what he was faced with.

"They have shirts, cups, keyrings, plushies and…that's a little gross," Reno shivered as he clicked to enlarge the picture and moved his head so that Zack and Cloud could see what he had discovered.

"My work out towels?" Zack cried and groaned and he pressed his fingers to his temples; massaging them, "that's disgusting, they have my sweat and…" Zack blushed slightly and cleared his throat to end his sentence, which made Cloud stare at him, shocked, as he knew what his boyfriend was about to say.

"You _masturbate_ on your _workout _towels?" Cloud almost roared with laughter as Reno wolf whistled and Zack puffed air upwards to blow at his antenna piece of hair.

"Well it was _all _your fault my dear Cloudy," Zack said with a calm, but yet seductive voice and Reno moaned at where the conversation was heading.

"Whoa okay!" he threw his hands up as the couple began to kiss, "this is _really _putting me off helping you guys out with this stupid stalker thing," he jabbed his finger harshly into the side of Zack's head making the raven and Chocobo break their kiss.

"Sorry Re-Re," Cloud cooed and Reno knitted his eyebrows together at the new name that the adorable blonde had given him and just rolled his eyes playfully as he continued to search the shop section of the website.

"**Wait**!" Cloud slammed his hand down on the mouse making both older males jump and Cloud scrolled up a bit more, "that's _my _set of headphones," he muttered and gritted his teeth as he stood up and bent down slightly so that he wasn't in Zack's lap anymore, his small body almost shaking with anger as he began to see more and more of his own personal possessions pop up on the screen.

"Looks like Zack isn't the only person that they want," Reno clicked his tongue and scrunched up his toes randomly as his eyes flickered to Zack's face which was showing an emotion he had never seen grace the man's face before.

"So they must be a student to know both my name and where I live," Cloud elaborated on his own thoughts that were currently circling his mind.

"Cloud," Zack pulled the boy back onto his lap and cuddled him tightly, placing a soft kiss on the blondes trembling lips, "stay over tonight, me and Reno will be here so you wont have to worry about anything," Zack smiled warmly as he saw Reno nodding, knowing how fond the red was of his new boyfriend.

"Totally, though I can assure you that Zack will be more than happy to help you 'cheer up'," Reno winked at them both as he used his fingers as air quotations.

"You made an innuendo out of that?" Cloud snorted as he cuddled closer to Zack, his thing fingers clutching at the man's tight blue shirt.

"Yes," Reno said with a simple tone, "I can make a sexual reference out of _anything _my blonde buddy," he laughed quietly as Cloud smiled at him.

"_Anyways,_" Zack tutted at his friend's strange behaviour and turned to Cloud who was stroking his chest, "so will you stay over?" Cloud couldn't help the butterflies that started to dance around his stomach as strong ideas started to appear in his head.

"Of course," Cloud whispered as he reached up a placed a small kiss on Zack's chin, "on the condition that _I _get to sleep in the same bed as you, Zack,"

Tah-Dah, yep, cruel I know haha Review please! I love knowing what you guys think!

**Again excuse the annoying mistakes I keep on making, both myself and Zack have now become ill (dear lord when will it end!), just when I have recovered from my irregular sleeping pattern xD**

**This chapter is a bit fluffy, but I like Clack fluff and I LOVE sleepy Reno if you couldn't tell from this chapter haha And by the way, I was TOTALLY picturing Reno in his pyjama's as I was writing this, it was very yummy xD**


	10. Chapter 10

I do not own the characters, nor the games of which they come from! Just the plot of my fanfiction

The Silence – Chapter X

Zack had reluctantly agreed to Cloud's condition to him staying over for the night. It wasn't that he didn't _want _to share a bed with the blonde, quit the opposite actually, but he was worried that Cloud was thinking that something was actually going to happen when they were alone in Zack's room. Zack had never been one for having sex too early in a relationship and Cloud was no exception, despite how much the blonde affected him both physically and mentally.

"So what do people do on sleepovers?" Cloud asked as he bounded into the front room holding Zack's hand, an excited smile appearing on his face and Zack raised his eyebrow.

"You haven't been to a sleepover before?" he was surprised because he thought anyone would want the chance to see Cloud in his pyjamas.

"Well only with Tifa and Yuffie, but they're girls, I want to know what _guys _do on sleepovers," Cloud explained with a light blush creeping onto his skin as Zack pulled him down onto his lap as the SOLDIER sat on the sofa.

"We don't just sit here and watch porn just so you know!" Reno yelled from the kitchen making both Zack and Cloud laugh.

"He does," Zack, whispered to Cloud, making the teenager giggle, "but I'm a little too old to call it a sleepover to be honest, it's more of a 'stay over night' now," Zack chuckled and tilted hi head as he saw the scowl suddenly appear on Cloud's face, "what's the matter?" his hands rested upon Cloud's thin hips and stroked them in an attempt to sooth the blonde.

"You're not _old_," Cloud snapped and placed his hands on Zack's strong shoulders, "You're not," he whispered and hugged the raven tightly around the neck, his face buried in the man's neck.

"Cloud," Zack sighed and wrapped his arms around him tightly, kissing just above his ear, "I wasn't implying that I was an old pensioner, I was just saying that at twenty three it's weird saying the term 'sleepover'," he explained to him and grinned as he pulled Cloud's face up to see the heavy blush on his face.

"Shut up," he muttered and cuddled back into Zack's body just as Reno came in with a large white mug filled to the brim with coffee.

"Ugh," the red head cringed as he looked at the couple on the sofa and immediately went to the other computer that was pushed up against the wall near the large wide screen television they had, "you guys are ridiculous," he commented as he placed his drink on the desk and kicked the computer to get it to turn on.

"Oh go and get laid," Zack winked and Reno glared at him.

"The weather has changed back to freezing, there aren't as many people on the street as there were!" Reno replied as he let out a long whine as he began clicking and typing.

"You pervert," came a mutter from the bundle in Zack's arms and neither older men could contain their laughter, it was strange to hear an offensive word come from his mouth.

Small Time Gap Here

For the rest of the day, Cloud was on the phone to both his mother and Tifa to try and cover up the fact that he was staying at Zack's without letting that slip to either of them, though Cloud would trust Tifa with his life, he couldn't risk telling anyone else about their relationship now that he was almost certain that Lixia was a student at his school.

"Yeah, only for one night though, I have to work on a project with Tifa," Cloud lied with a half heart, he hated to lie to his mother.

"That's fine Cloud, just don't stay up too late, just because it's the weekend tomorrow doesn't mean you can stay up and look like a zombie in the morning," his mum giggled which made a warm smile grace Cloud's lips.

"I wont mum, I promise, see you tomorrow," he beamed as she replied before hanging up and he placed Zack and Reno's phone down before grabbing his mobile to talk to Tifa who was waiting for him to come back 'from the toilet'.

"Hey Tifa, sorry about that," Cloud acted as he paced up and down Zack's room.

"Don't worry about it, so why do I have to lie to your mum about staying round mine?" Tifa asked with a confused tone.

"Because I'm visiting my dad," Cloud shivered as he mentioned his father, the man who had walked out on him when he was just six years old.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Tifa gasped.

"Yeah, I just want to ask him things…for closure," Cloud replied quickly and rubbed his temples roughly.

"Alright, I'll lie, but you _better _pay me back Cloud," Tifa added a little laugh to lighten the atmosphere and Cloud smiled.

"Thanks Tifa, see you on Monday," Cloud quickly hung up and put his phone on Zack's bed side table before rubbing his face with his hands, lying was very exhausting.

Flinging his legs in the air slightly, he managed to swivel himself around so that he was now on his back and placed his hands behind his head as an extra pillow, gazing up at Zack's bedroom ceiling.

_Is it even safe to go to school anymore, you saw what happened to that other SOLDIER who had a stalker, they kidnapped him…which is actually kind of funny when you think about it, shut up Cloud. _Cloud groaned and stretched his feet a little to break himself out of his thoughts and looked to his right as Zack entered the room. The tall man darted for the curtains, stopping slightly to look out of the window, scanning the streets for any strange actions before he pulled the curtains shut and clambered onto the bed beside Cloud, his arm slinging over his slim stomach.

"What are you thinking?" Zack snorted as he used his other free hand to brush a few blonde strands from Cloud's face.

"Nothing," Cloud sighed and curled into Zack's side, "just worrying as usual," he giggled and grunted as he felt another blush appearing as Zack's lips kissed his forehead.

"Well don't," Zack smiled and slowly moved his face closer to Cloud's and brushed his lips caringly against his, his hands rubbing the blonde's back as a familiar pair of arms came up around his neck again.

Cloud had kissed and been kissed before, but Zack was definitely one of the most experienced kissers he had ever had the fortune of experiencing. He was so tender, caring and knew when to deepen the kiss, giving Cloud time to warm up to him.

"Hmm," Cloud sighed almost dreamily as Zack slowly pulled his lips away and automatically licked his lips.

"Come on," Zack laughed at Cloud's dreamy expression, "it be sleepy time for the baby," he teased and shrieked as Cloud smacked the back of his head as he stretched out to pull open his pyjama drawer and pulled out a large black shirt and blue boxers, stuffing them into Cloud's thin arms, "you can change in the bathroom if you want," Zack pointed towards the door that led to his tiny bathroom and Cloud blushed at the idea of undressing in front of Zack.

_Should have lied, should have told him to undress in front of you_. Zack grinned at his devilish thoughts as he stripped down to his boxers, stopping to wonder whether he should wear a shirt or not and tapped on the bathroom door.

"Yeah?" Cloud called out in surprise.

"Um, odd question," Zack started, "do you want me to wear a shirt or not?" he couldn't believe he was actually asking that question.

"Whatever you usually sleep in, don't change just because I'm staying," Cloud's voice sounded a little nervous and Zack couldn't figure out why.

_No shirt it is then. _Zack chucked the shirt across the room and sat underneath the covers with it the bed quilt sitting on his lap, beaming as Cloud came padding out of the bathroom and Zack's breath hitched.

Cloud looked _adorable_.

Cloud peered over at Zack and his hands clutched at the SOLDIER's shirt that he was wearing at the sight before him and he felt tempted to run back into the bathroom, his body was incredible…his wasn't.

"Cloudy?" a pair of arms wrapped around his waist and he gripped them gently, "you alright?" Cloud nodded quickly as he turned around, letting out a quiet squeal as he came face to face with Zack's bare chest.

"Y-you're…um…yeah," Cloud stuttered and scowled as he saw the smug smirk appearing on Zack's face.

"I think Cloudy likes what he sees," Zack winked and pulled Cloud onto the bed with him.

"Oh shut up," Cloud snapped and peered down his shirt at his own body, rolling his eyes at the sight he was presented with, "how am I supposed to compete with…" Cloud couldn't help gazing at Zack's chest before looking back at his own.

"Is _that _what you're worried about?" Zack raised his eyebrows as Cloud pulled the covers up to his neck and buried his head into the pillow.

"Yes," Cloud's voice was muffled as he refused to look at Zack who was finding it hard not to laugh at Cloud's ridiculous confidence.

"Cloud, do you realize that don't actually care what you look like underneath your clothes?" Zack pointed out, only telling a small lie.

"But…" Cloud looked up and fiddled with the pillowcase, "I'm all thin and stuff and you're…um…well you know," Cloud hid his face with his hair as Zack chuckled into his ear, his lips kissing the side of his neck.

"But I think you're hot being 'all thin and stuff'," Zack grinned as Cloud finally faced him, "honestly," he urged and then placed a kiss onto Cloud's lips, cupping his face before the teenager could protest against his response, when he pulled away, he grinned when he saw Cloud's lips were still parted and his eyes were closed, "now sleep," Zack instructed and lifted his arm so that Cloud could snuggle up to him before he wrapped the boy up tightly, trying to remember the last time he felt so comfortable.

time gap

"Earth to Cloud Strife," a hand waved in front of Cloud's face and he blinked few times as Tifa giggled at him, "that's the fifth time today that you've zoned out," she rolled her eyes as she pulled her friend out of the classroom before they got into trouble with their teacher.

"Sorry," Cloud replied with a half dazed look and Tifa put her hands on her hips.

"What's with you?" she frowned, "what aren't you telling me?" she tapped her foot on the floor as they stood by their lockers.

"Tifa," Cloud rolled his eyes, "I'm not keeping anything from you," he forced out and swapped his books over, "I'm just tired," he grinned and rubbed Tifa's shoulder to assure her.

"Okay," Tifa fell silent for a few minuets before speaking up again, "well I'm here if you want to talk," she offered kindly and pulled Cloud into a friendly hug, stroking his hair as she did so, "I'll see you after Music," she whispered, hesitating before she let go of her friend _knowing _that Cloud wasn't acting normal, but it wasn't that that was worrying her, it was the fact that Cloud was acting as if he hadn't a care in the world, which was strange for Cloud.

_I can't believe I actually miss him already. _Cloud shut his locker door and spun around a little too fast and bashed into another student.

"Ah, I'm sorry!" he blushed heavily as he bent down to pick up the papers the boy had dropped and handed them neatly back to him, taken back by how stunning the person's brown eyes were.

"It's my fault, I wasn't looking where I was going," the boy was almost as pale as he was, he had long shaggy brown hair that fell into his eyes constantly, he was taller than Cloud by an inch and he dressed like someone who would usually spend their time skateboarding, "you're…Cloud Strife, right?" Cloud blinked out of examining the boy in surprise at the sound of his name.

"Yeah, how'd you know that?" he frowned as he hugged his books tighter.

"The pretty black haired girl called it out in class," the boy laughed with a friendly smile and held his hand out, "my friends call me Simba," he introduced and Cloud raised his eyebrows.

"Like the Disney lion?" Cloud asked as he shook Simba's hand.

"Yeah, they think I have his attitude," he snorted and rolled his eyes, "though I don't know why you're thinking that my nicknames weird when your actual name is _Cloud_," Cloud found himself laughing quietly and shook his head.

"What class do you have now?" Cloud asked and tilted his head as Simba brought out a creased timetable.

"Um…Science, but this is my first day here…I have no idea where that is," Simba admitted with a sheepish smile and Cloud beamed at him, liking the boy more by the second, he didn't seem to be stuck up like the other students at the school

"That's alright, I'll show you, I have science too," Cloud offered before he began walking down the corridor whilst waving for Simba to follow him.

**More things for you awesome readers to do right now.**

**Review please!**

**And read this haha **

**You're probably thinking 'Simba? Really Sora is that the best you could come up with?', honestly, I've had my mind set on this guy for about four months now haha and Simba is one of my favourite names thanks to Disney's 'The Lion King'.**

**SO who is this Simba and what relevance has he to Cloud? You'll see. :D**


	11. Chapter 11

I do not own the characters, nor the games of which they come from, just the plot of my fanfiction.

Warning : **This Chapter is not suitable for readers under the age of sixteen, this chapter contains graphic sex.**

Situations Change – Chapter XI

Slamming the mouse down of the computer desk, Zack glared at the screen as more pictures had appeared on the website, but this time there were more pictures of Cloud than there were of Zack.

_Jeeze Cloud, I wish they would leave you alone _Zack sighed loudly as he clicked off of the site and shut down the computer as he heard the front door being knocked upon and he stretched his arms up in the air before making his way slowly towards it.

"Could you walk any slower?" Reno popped out from the front room and yanked the door open, dodging a pair of lips that instinctively came up to meet his and he snorted as Cloud blushed heavily at his mistake.

"Sorry," Cloud muttered as he hurried over to Zack's side and hugged the SOLDIER tightly around the waist.

"I was wondering when you were going to show up," Zack smiled as he bent down and placed a small kiss on Cloud's lips. It hadn't gone unnoticed that Cloud seemed to be busy a lot of the time for the passed few days and Reno had thrown around the suggestion that maybe Cloud was playing around with another guy, Zack had hit him.

"Sorry," Cloud repeated with an exhausted sigh, "I have a new friend that I've been helping getting up to date on all of our past work as he's new, so I thought I'd help him," Cloud smiled after his short explanation and let out a nervous giggle as he saw the overly large grin form on Zack's face.

_He not cheating of course he wasn't cheating, this is __Cloud __we're talking about here;, he's too cute! _Zack only snapped out of his little daydream when Cloud began tapping on his forehead.

"Anyone in there?" the blonde beamed as Zack playfully glared at him, "come on," Cloud sighed as he led his boyfriend to the bedroom, tightly holding his hand.

"Don't be too loud," Reno called after them with a perverted smile plastered on his face and winked at Zack as he glared at him.

Zack watched as Cloud jumped onto his bed and sat cross legged, waiting for Zack to close the door before he decided to get too intimate with the man, public display wasn't an issue for Cloud, but when it's Reno…he found himself getting distracted by the redheads comments.

"So are you going to tell me about this new friend of yours?" Zack asked as he plopped down next to the Chocobo who pouted a little as he knew that he wouldn't be getting a kiss anytime soon.

"There's nothing to tell," Cloud shrugged, "Simba's just a guy I hang around with along with Tifa," Cloud moved his face closer to Zack's but stopped as he saw that Zack was holding something in, flinching visibly as Zack roared with laughter.

"_Simba_?" he shrieked and nearly choked on his own laughter, "like that _Disney lion_?" gasped as he placed his head on Cloud's shoulder, still shaking violently with laughter.

Cloud rolled his eyes and smacked the back of Zack's head, "you're such a child," he sighed whilst Zack moved his head up so that they were eye level, small laughs still falling from his lips.

"What are you staring at?" Cloud tried to hide his face with his long blonde hair but Zack stopped him by brushing it away again and the raven whined as he continued to stare into Cloud's eyes.

"You," Zack replied before he pulled the blonde closer, his hands resting on his lower back as their lips connected, he smiled a bit as Cloud's hands fisted his shirt, deepening the is a bit more which made a small moan for Zack to drink in, come from Cloud.

_Going further? _Zack's kissing didn't falter as he managed to turn them around so that Cloud was on his back, _does he want this? _Zack gently brushed his hands down Cloud's hips as their lips continued to moved hungrily against one another's and he couldn't help but chuckle at the almost delighted sounded squeal that came from the blonde beneath him.

"That _tickles_," Cloud moaned as he pulled away from Zack in order to glare at him but found his head tilting backwards with a low groan as the raven swiftly dipped down and planted hot, wet kisses on his neck, his hands cupping underneath Cloud and stroked the blondes skin.

Cloud moved his hands nervously down the front of Zack's shirt and allowed his cold hands to slip under the soft material, his eyes nearly bulging at how well built Zack felt under his finger tips, blushing heavily as Zack stopped with his assaults on his neck and moved to look down at him, smiling as he allowed the teenager to explore, helping him a little by removing his shirt so that Cloud was once again graced with an image that he hadn't been able to get out of his head ever since they had slept beside one another.

"Are you alright?" Zack nickered as he noticed how tight Cloud's jeans were looking and raised his eyebrow suggestively.

"Y-yeah," Cloud stuttered as he moved to caress Zack's neck with his hands, smiling shyly at him with an innocent expression, which caused the elder man to moan aggressively at the sight.

"_Stop turning me on like that!_" Zack whined as he tried to stop himself from ripping Cloud's jeans from the boy's small body.

"I…turn you on?" Cloud blushed again and leaned upwards to kiss Zack's lips, "how?" he asked curiously and Zack rolled his eyes.

"By doing _that_," Zack sighed with a smile, "your innocence turns me on," he admitted and felt a blush appearing on his own face with made Cloud grin widely at seeing Zack's shy side for once. He then twirled Zack's hair in between his fingers as a beautiful silence surrounded them, his eyes completely fixed on Zack's as they kissed once more, their bodies heating up dramatically as they knew what they were about to do was going to be amazing.

Zack's fingers expertly removing Cloud's clothes from the boy's soft pale skin, devouring it as soon as it was revealed with his lips, licking around Cloud's nipples and tickling his sides with his fingers delicately as he proceeded to get lower and lower on the blonde's body.

"_Zack_," Cloud panted as he arched his back in the air, not sure of how to react to such pleasure that he had never felt before. His breath hitching in his throat as he felt his jeans slipping away from his legs and clamped his hands over his mouth as he felt Zack's hands rub him through his boxers gently, adding a little more pressure every now and again.

Zack slowly stopped and stood up next to the bed so he could remove his jeans, admiring the sight before him at the same time. Cloud was squirming on the bed with his knees tightly pressed together, his bright blue eyes trained on Zack telling the SOLDIER that he had never felt like this before.

"Cloud," Zack whispered as he clambered back on top of him, this time in just his boxers, tickling Cloud's sides once more and moaning as Cloud giggled.

"I'm fine," Cloud assured him and to make sure Zack didn't think he was lying, he raised his knee and brushed it against Zack's arousal, causing the elder male to mewl out his name loudly, forgetting that a certain red head was still in the house with them.

Boxers were the next thing to leave Cloud's body and he couldn't help wanting to hide himself from Zack, he _knew _that Zack would be well endowed, the minuet Cloud saw him on the beach when they first met, he knew that Zack would be large because he just looked like he was.

"_Gah_!" Cloud cried as Zack ground his hips against his, noticing that Zack had somehow removed his own boxers in the time of his daydreaming and felt as if he was going to start panicking as he felt Zack's bare arousal against his. Zack felt big and he was almost afraid to look, afraid that if he saw it then he would start to back out of the idea, as he knew he was going to be the one being inserted by the beast.

"I'm going to have to prepare you," Zack whispered into Cloud's ear as he brought his hand up to Cloud's lips and his fingers stroked them a little as he silently begged for entrance.

It took Cloud a short while to realize what Zack was actually asking of him and slowly opened his mouth so he could coat Zack's fingers with his saliva, frowning at himself as he found that he was enjoying the action a she could see Zack's reaction to his tongue slithering around his flesh.

"Shit," Zack whispered to himself as he felt Cloud's tongue slid in between his fingers and back up again, lapping at the tips of his fingers whilst purring against them, almost as if Cloud was trying to have this little moment of dominance before Zack took it back again.

Hesitating, Zack removed his fingers slowly from Cloud's mouth and adjusted on his knees as the were starting to ache, and poked his fingers at Cloud's entrance, noting the frightened look in the blondes eyes, he decided a slow approach would calm him down and gently eased both of them in, stopping abruptly as Cloud hissed in pain.

"Kiss me," Cloud begged and pulled Zack's head back to his, "distract me," he briefly explained before he pulled Zack in for an urgent and very hectic kiss as he continued to be stretched by the man's fingers.

Zack nearly jumped out of his skin as Cloud suddenly moaned loudly into his mouth, the boy's hips meeting his and Zack pulled away from him sniggering smugly as he knew that he had found Cloud's special place and pulled his fingers away as he knew Cloud was now ready.

"If you don't go slowly," Cloud rubbed his cold hands against Zack's warm chest, "I'll make sure that this never happens again," he giggled as Zack nodded.

"Anything," Zack placed a kiss on a weak spot on Cloud's neck, "for you," he finished as he positioned himself and slowly inched himself in, his eyes widening at how incredibly tight Cloud was and it nearly brought him to tears.

_You just had to pick a virgin huh, Zack _Zack felt like he had to glare at himself but he didn't have time as Cloud growled out in frustration and raised his hips quickly.

"Oh _fuck _going slow!" Cloud whimpered catching Zack off guard with his out of character behaviour

"As you wish," Zack clamped his lips down on Cloud's as he began thrusting quickly into the small blonde, who was moaning and raking his nails harshly into Zack's back as they moved as one. Sweat forming onto Zack's forehead as he moved a little more faster, resisting the urge to cry out like a girl as he honestly couldn't remember a time that making love had felt this good.

"_Zack_!" Cloud mewled as he felt a burning sensation rising in his stomach and licked his lips as he pulled Zack down so their bodies were pressed right up against each others, digging his nails into the SOLDIER's shoulders and panting as he moved quickly to meet Zack's hips with his own.

Zack barely felt Cloud's orgasm as it splattered on his chest as he was so riled up that he couldn't even control the sped he was going at, his lips dancing everywhere on Cloud's neck and stomach, trying to show the boy how much he had fallen for him in the month they had known one another.

"Tch," Zack gasped and moaned into the crook of Cloud's neck as he finally released himself inside of him, thrusting lazily so he could ride out his orgasm before both of them nearly collapsed together.

"Zack," Cloud whispered, catching his breath finally as he stroked the raven's head, "you're heavy," he giggled with a deep blush and Zack snorted as he rolled off of him and lay on the other side of the bed, using his shirt to rub his chest clean and then pulled Cloud against him, placing sloppy kisses on his lips, their fingers intertwining as they did so.

"Cloud," Zack said with a serious tone as they pulled away, his heart aching as he stared at the face before him, taking in how beautiful Cloud's features were, how _soft_ they were, "I love you," he whispered and looked down at their hands as Cloud squeezed them out of shock.

"I love you too," Cloud broke out into a smile as Zack pulled the cover over their naked bodies and laughed, as Cloud was practically giddy over their confessions.

**I'm sorry this took so long to come out (pun not intended there) but I have been super busy (and ill) so I haven't had that much time to write and I also have about a billion other fanfictions I am writing, though I am completely dedicated to this fanfiction and my Kingdom Hearts one 'The Silence' so I promise I am not going to slow down anymore with updates! As long as I continue to get reviews for this story then I shall continue to upload chapters of it. I hope that I made up for it thought with this very tasty scene for you all :D **

**Reviews Please!**


	12. Chapter 12

I do not own the characters, nor the games of which they come from, just the plot of my fanfiction.

Situations Change – XII

_No __**way**__, oh man this is going to be the perfect bribe later on!_ Reno clapped his hands together and grinned as he got up from the floor right outside Zack's room and rubbed the back of his neck. _Wish I hadn't pressed up against the door like that, my neck is killing me _Reno moaned a little and snorted as the noises Cloud had been making came buzzing around his mind again.

He had never heard Zack said the words 'I love you' to any of his previous partners before and it was strange to hear the usually bold and tough SOLDIER say words like that. But then again, this was _Cloud _that Zack was saying 'I love you' to, so Reno didn't know why he was so shocked, he had seen them together and often found himself being a little jealous at how close they were.

**! Small Time Gap !**

There hadn't been a single day where Cloud hadn't found himself running back to Zack's house, being kissed by the SOLDIER, being held and _adored _by him. It was such a strange feeling for the young blonde to feel, he had never wanted to spend so much time with one person before and it made him feel a little guilty towards both his mother and Tifa, but he couldn't help it.

The thing that was bothering Cloud in the wonderful world he was currently falling in love in, was the fact that there seemed to have been an increase on the amount of photos on the website and it frightened him even more when he saw his own half naked picture plastered up on the front page right beside the one he had seen of Zack's. The fact that he was in his room reading at the time the picture was taken freaked him out, as he had made sure that no one could see into his room, so how could they have taken a picture of him?

But it wasn't just the increase of site activity that was bothering him. Simba had come extremely close to finding out Cloud and Zack's secret of many occasions and Cloud had been warned by Reno that something wasn't quite right about his new friend. It wasn't that Cloud didn't trust Reno; it was only the fact that Cloud didn't want to believe that Simba could be so cruel after being so kind to him since he had arrived at the school.

"Yo!" Cloud looked up from switching his books over and smiled a bit as Simba walked over to him, a grin plastered on his face.

"Hey," Cloud replied quietly but Simba didn't seem to notice and the blonde jumped as Simba slung his arm around his shoulders.

"What's little Cloudy got now?" Simba chuckled and rubbed his finger into the side of Cloud's head, looking down as his friend laughed at the action.

"Nothing actually, I just wanted to get my book out," Cloud replied and lifted up his book to show him.

"So you're going home?" Simba asked again as his eyes traveled over the book Cloud was holding.

"Well…not straight away," Cloud mentally cursed himself for letting Simba know that and sighed as he spotted the suggestive expression on Simba's face.

"We could hang out for a while!" Simba exclaimed unnoticing the fact that Cloud's body had deflated at the suggestion, knowing that he couldn't say 'no' otherwise Simba would ask questions. He just wanted to relax with Zack.

"Yeah, sure," Cloud got a hold of himself and threw a smile in his direction as they walked out into the car park and Cloud nearly groaned out loud when he spotted Zack waiting for him, leaning against his Fenrir.

_Damn it Zack! _Cloud noticed that Zack was looking in their direction and he held back a giggle as Zack suddenly jumped behind his bike like he was in some comedy.

"Where shall we go or did you have already have a place in mind?" Simba thought out loud and placed a finger on his lips as his own eyes scanned the parking area.

"Um," Cloud cleared his throat as he tried to make Simba's eyes return to him and he frowned at the somewhat dark look in Simba's eyes as he scanned over the area where Zack's Fenrir stood and he grabbed a hold of Simba's wrist, not knowing how much Zack's eyes widened at his boyfriend's actions towards the new boy, "how about we go to Tifa's bar?" Cloud beamed and pulled lightly on Simba's wrist, desperate to get him as far away from Zack as he could.

"Sure," Simba sounded as if he was distracted and Cloud glanced over his shoulder one more time, mouthing an apology to Zack who just waved his hand and smiled to brush off the disappointed feeling that was brewing in his stomach as he watched Cloud and Simba walk away.

**! Gap !**

"**Zack**!" Reno came flying towards his friend as soon as Zack had placed his keys onto the small table beside the door. The red head's hands grabbed a hold of Zack's shirt and pulled him into the front room.

"Reno, what the hell?" Zack frowned as he managed to push Reno away from him and the Turk ran to the computer speakers and switched them on, "**sit**!" Reno ordered and jabbed his finger downwards at the chair beside him and Zack quickly sat down, slightly worried at how angered Reno's voice was.

"Why are you on the site?" Zack sighed as Reno continued to search the page for something, almost screaming 'jackpot' as he found what he was looking for.

"Somebody planted a bug on Cloud," Reno explained and held up a tiny microphone that had a small clip attached to it, "I found it on back of Cloud's shirt before I cleaned your clothes," Reno informed Zack further before he clicked onto what looked like a music player and the sounds of panting and moaning soon filled the air.

Zack froze as Cloud's voice suddenly cried out his name from the recording and he ran his fingers through his hair in a panicked fashion.

"How did they manage to bug him?" Zack shrieked before he reached over and quickly turned the audio off.

"Obviously this 'Lixia'," Reno used his fingers for air quotes, "was able to get close enough to Cloud to plant this thing, but as you and I both know, Cloud isn't one to get close to anyone that isn't his mum, Tifa or us," Reno sneered as Simba instantly sprung to mind and he looked to Zack who was now dialing Cloud's number and the red head smacked the phone from his hand, "you moron!" he gasped and Zack blinked a few times, "if Cloud was bugged once, he can be bugged again!" Reno rolled his eyes as his apparent first class SOLDIER friend finally started to understand what he was saying.

"So this means…" Zack stared at the carpet sadly, "that I have to tell Cloud that we were heard," Zack groaned and rubbed his temples, "you have no idea how special that night was for him Reno," Zack nearly wept at the thought of how hurt and scared this would make his beloved blonde.

"Oh I think I can take a wild guess," Reno replied, "just be extra careful from now on Zack, if SOLDIER find this then you could be chewing on more than you can swallow,"

**Reviews please guys, they help me write, a lot.**

**So, is Simba 'Lixia'? Is Cloud bugged? Is Reno on the right train of thought with hi suspicion resting on Simba and is Zack going to lose his positions as a First Class SOLDIER?**

**By the way, I re read this chapter six or seven times, so if there are mistakes I might cry because I know I always miss about two or three x3**


	13. Chapter 13

I do not own the characters, nor the games of which they come from, just the plot of my fanfiction.

Situations Change – Chapter XIII

Cloud poked the hot coffee he had ordered from a red haired girl, who worked with Tifa, as he and Simba sat at one of the tables near the window of Tifa's bar. He felt a little saddened by the fact that right at that moment he could have been in Zack's arms, kissing the raven with such passion that it could heat the country for a month.

"You alright?" Simba frowned as he tapped the back of Cloud's hand gently and chuckled as the blonde jumped from the contact.

"Yeah, sorry," Cloud blushed and smiled at him brightly, "I tend to daydream a lot," he added with a giggle and Simba smiled back.

"I gathered that," Simba snorted and cupped his hot beverage in his large hands, frowning at it so deeply that Cloud thought that his gaze along would break the cup in half, "I…um," Simba sighed and slipped his fingers into his long fringe.

"Simba?" loud said worriedly as he tried to see Simba's face, but he couldn't.

"Let's talk about something, the silence is making me nervous," Simba sniggered and Cloud smiled slightly.

"Okay," Cloud looked around for a second, his mind completely blank and then turned back to Simba with his eyebrow raised, "like what?" he blushed again as Simba grinned at his innocence.

"Hmm," Simba dipped his finger into his hot chocolate, pulling it out and licking the tip almost seductively, "what about relationships?" Cloud choked on his coffee and thumped his fist against his chest, trying not to panic too much at Simba's suggestion.

"Relationships?" Cloud asked and Simba nodded with a cheerful smirk.

"Yeah, we'll start with you first of all," Simba laughed and his eyes flickered to Cloud's, "are you dating anybody?" Simba asked and Cloud noticed the fact that Simba was chewing the inside of his cheek.

"No, no I'm not," Cloud replied with a slightly shaky voice as it hurt to lie about being with Zack.

"_Seriously_?" Simba almost shrieked and Cloud nearly dropped his cup in shock at his friend's tone, "sorry," Simba muttered as a deep blush appeared on his pale skin, "it's just I…well I had a reason for wanting to talk about relationships with you," Simba looked up at Cloud.

_Oh god _Cloud held his breath as he continued to watch Simba struggle with his next sentence.

"I think…" Simba clunked his teeth together, still hiding his face from Cloud; "I think I'm falling in love with you,"

It took Cloud a while to figure out what Simba had just said and he felt his heart rate in crease as his eyes met Simba's.

"I'm sorry," Cloud giggled nervously and rubbed his forehead with his eyes shut, "I think I must have misheard you because it sounded as if you said you might be falling in love with me," he laughed again as he hid his shaking and hid them underneath the table, guilt bubbling in his body.

"I did," Simba muttered and smiled a little when Cloud looked up at him.

"B-but I," Cloud stuttered and held his breath as Simba got up and sat on the same seat as him so they were now next to each other.

"It's not like you're with anybody else," Simba whispered in a tone that made an icy shiver rush down Cloud's back, "or are you?" Cloud bit his lip as Simba slithered his arm around his shoulders.

"Simba, you're making me uncomfortable," Cloud said with a shaky voice and winced as Simba grasped his hands that were still hidden under the table unbearably tight.

"Oh I'm so _sorry_," Simba hissed and his face changed from the kind and shy one a few seconds ago, to the sneering and vicious expression he was wearing now.

"Simba!" Cloud gasped as the boy's nails cut into his skin, "What's wrong with you?" Cloud cried as tears started to grow.

"I _know_, Cloud," Simba whispered into his ear, "I know you're seeing that SOLDIER boy, Zack Fair," 

"I don't know what you're talking about," Cloud held in a shriek as Simba twisted his wrist around, "S-Simba please," he gasped as pain shot up his arm.

"I'll back down," Simba sneered into his ear again, "_if _you break up with Zack, you surely wouldn't want to see your _precious _SOLDIER lose everything because of little old you," Cloud shook his head as tears streamed down his cheeks, his hair falling into his eyes a bit as he stared at the table.

"I can't do that!" Cloud sobbed and groaned as Simba twisted his wrist even more.

"You can and you fucking will," Simba spat and let go of Cloud's wrist, "I'm giving you a week, if it isn't done by then, I'll let everybody know," Simba smirked and got up, leaving the bar.

Cloud broke down into tears, hiding his face with his hands as his body shook, he couldn't believe he had allowed Simba to trick him like that, allow that boy to get close to him when Reno had warned him about who Simba really was, but now he knew for himself that Simba, whether it be a spy or actually Lixia, he was going to do anything to get him to leave Zack.

Zack, I'm sorry.

**Review Please!**

**Simba is still a little mystery, nobody knows whether he's actually Lixia or just a spy. The chapter is short and possibly has a few mistakes in it, but it's supposed to be short and the mistakes will be sorted out when I re-read this chapter over for about the hundredth time. **

**College has kept me away from writing this fanfiction and I apologize for it being uploaded so damn late.**


	14. Chapter 14

I do not own the characters, nor the games of which they come from, just the plot of my fanfiction.

Situations Change – Chapter XIV

"Cloud!" Cloud continued to ignore his mother as she knocked on his bedroom door that he had pushed his desk up against so that she couldn't get in, "I wish you would just tell me what's wrong with you," she sounded hurt and Cloud hated that, he loved his mother so much, but he couldn't breathe a word to her about his relationship.

_I want Zack _Cloud cried into his hands once more, pulling his thick covers over his body as he stared at his phone when it began to ring again.

**!Gap!**

"Fuck-pick up Cloud!" Zack yelled into the phone, his fingers rubbing circles on his temples as he paced up and down in his front room, getting in the way of Reno who was trying to watch television.

"Dude would you sit down, you're giving me a headache!" Reno scowled and Zack turned to him, sighing as he dropped the phone onto the floor and sat beside Reno.

"I'm sorry," Zack muttered and stared, un-entertained, at the television, "I think there's something wrong with Cloud," he groaned as he slumped in his seat, his legs spread wide apart as he tapped his hands nervously upon them.

"Do you think…Lixia might have something to do with his 'distance'?" Reno frowned, now fully paying attention to Zack. Anything that concerned Cloud's safety caught Reno's attention whether he wanted it to or not, he and the blonde had gotten close after that day when Cloud helped him home. Though it wasn't the best scenario, Reno couldn't be more thankful for his drunken state, he had gained a friend that he knew he could trust and a friend that made his _best _friend happy, something that was extremely rare to find.

"I don't know, he won't even reply to my texts," Zack gritted his teeth as he picture the beautiful blonde, smiling slightly as he pictured Cloud blushing.

"You're his boyfriend, go over to his house," Reno rolled his eyes as Zack began grinning like a moron and he flinched as the raven suddenly pulled him into a crushing hug, leaving him with little choice other than to pat Zack's head.

"Ah I love you man," Zack smiled as he squeezed Reno even tighter, giggling as he heard the red head wheeze.

"Alright, alright, just let me breathe!" Reno gasped and took in a deep breath once Zack let him go.

"See you in a few!" Zack called as he rushed towards to the front door and exited his house, leaving Reno still gasping for breath.

**!Gap!**

Kyrie, Cloud's mother, sighed as she tied her long blonde hair up into a ponytail, allowing a few strands of hair to fall delicately around her pretty face whilst she searched through the cupboards for a snack. Her mind going back and focusing on Cloud every now and again, worried why her precious son was so upset.

She broke out of her daydream when she heard somebody knock on the door and she brushed her hands on her jeans before quickly answering, smiling shyly as she saw Zack standing there.

"Thank goodness," she gasped and pulled Zack inside by his wrist, shutting the door once he was inside.

"Kyrie?" Zack frowned as he noticed that the woman had tears glittering in her eyes.

"It's Cloud," Kyrie cried and put her fingers onto her lips, "he's really upset and he's locked himself in his room, it's been two days!" she quickly wiped her tears away before Zack could see them fall and the raven stared at her wide eyed.

_At least that explains why he hasn't come over _Zack sighed and pulled Kyrie into his arms, holding her friendly and rubbing her back, allowing her to cry into his chest.

"Please, Zack," Kyrie sobbed and looked up at him, her expressions resembling Cloud so much that Zack couldn't help but smile weakly, "he only listens to you now…you need to get him out of his room!" she sounded as if she was begging and Zack patted the short woman's head.

"Of course," he said kindly and let go of Kyrie before he dashed up the stairs towards Cloud's room.

"Cloud!" Cloud gasped at the sound of his voice and peeked out of his covers, his eye directly on his door as if he was afraid that Zack would knock it down.

"Zack," he whispered as he found himself running to his door, moving his desk out of the way but still keeping the door closed. He pressed up against it and put his ear to the door, knowing that this was the closest he was going to get to Zack before he…

"Cloud, are you okay?" Cloud allowed tears to fall from his eyes as he smiled in awe at his concern, "I've missed you," Cloud sighed as Zack was now speaking quieter, obviously hoping that Kyrie wouldn't be able to hear him.

"You have to leave," Cloud said sadly as his hands came up and rested on the door beside his head, more tears falling as his heart began to ache, wanting to rip the bug that Simba had planted on him off of his shirt, but he knew if he did that…Zack would be in trouble.

"No, I want to see you first," Zack sounded hurt and Cloud knitted his eyebrows together as his shaky hand grabbed his door handle, would Simba be able to tell if he was in the room with Zack just from hearing it?

"Y-you can't see me!" Cloud gritted his teeth as he began to cry loudly, his hand now gripping the handle so tightly that the whites of his knuckles became visible.

"I'm coming in," Zack snorted and Cloud quickly pushed himself up against the door even more, trying to create enough force onto it so that Zack wouldn't be able to get in.

"**No!**" Cloud screamed and the pushing on the door quickly stopped.

"I love you," Zack whispered close to the door and Cloud's body froze, his heart raced at those words and he chewed his lip for a while before silently getting up and holding his breath as he pulled the door open, quickly placing his hand over Zack's mouth and shaking his head and he pulled his lover into his room.

Before Zack could say anything, Cloud had got up onto his tiptoes and connected his soft lips to his; kissing him with such desperation that Zack didn't want to pull away just in case Cloud broke down. When Cloud pulled away from Zack, he once again had to cover his mouth.

'Don't talk' he mouthed and Zack nodded, smiling once Cloud removed his hand.

'Are you okay?' Zack mouthed back and Cloud shook his head, falling into Zack's arms and burying his face into Zack's chest, kissing the man's shirt.

Zack smiled at the affectionate behaviour of his lover and bent down slightly so their faces were level, his hand reached up and stroked Cloud's cheek before he connected their lips once more. Sighing into their embrace, Cloud's finger became tangled in Zack's hair. Surely he should be granted this one last day with Zack before he had to rip his heart apart?

Slowly, their clothes left their bodies; slipping onto the floor of Cloud's bedroom as the SOLDIER picked the blonde up and gently placed him on his back, kissing him furiously once he lay between Cloud's thin legs.

Cloud gasped quietly as he felt Zack's hand slide down his body and cup him gently through his boxer shorts, he arched his back and licked his lips as his chest pressed up against Zack's, being careful not to allow himself to moan out loud. He could see Zack's lips forming his name frequently as he ground his hips against the blonde, Cloud couldn't help but feel even sadder as he knew that Zack was only doing it for him, everything for him.

Zack placed heated kisses on Cloud's neck as he worked on getting the teenager's boxers off, his tongue licking him every now and again as his teeth bit down hard, smirking as e heard Cloud struggle to keep his volume down.

Cloud shut his eyes as Zack traveled southerly on his body, placing a kiss just under his belly button and he blushed heavily once he realized what Zack was going to do, leaning up on his elbows and reopening his eyes so he could see.

Zack licked the underside of Cloud's erection, all the way up until his tongue sat in the slit of the blonde's arousal, moaning lightly as he got the taste of Cloud's pre cum and he engulfed the boy in his warm mouth, sucking harshly to bring Cloud closer to his climax.

_So good _Cloud wanted to call his thoughts out, let Zack know how amazing it felt, but he couldn't allow Simba to know, _wouldn't _allow Simba to ruin his last day with Zack for all the world.

Cloud clawed at his stomach as his body became hotter, his breath becoming heavier as he found himself thrusting into Zack's mouth a bit, holding back so that he wouldn't choke him. Blushing heavily as Zack suddenly pulled away, a white trickle of the blonde's juices forming at the corner of the raven's mouth.

Panting, Cloud got up onto his knees and clambered onto Zack's lap, kissing him again, swirling his tongue with the older man's.

Zack quickly removed his boxers and bit back a moan as his arousal brushed against Cloud's, his hands lovingly slipped underneath Cloud's back and held him close as they continued to kiss, slowly entering him at the same time.

Wrapping his arms around Zack's neck, Cloud couldn't help the small moans that were leaving his mouth. He pulled his older lover down so that he could bit around the shell of his ear kissed the side of his jaw.

"I love you, Zachary Fair," He whispered almost too quietly, but it was clear that Zack heard as he was thrown back onto the bed and kissed with so much passion that the blonde thought he would pass out…that is if it hadn't been for Zack's thrusting becoming more rough.

"I love you, Cloud Strife," Cloud giggled a little as Zack returned his love, finally being able to forget what was to come tomorrow and just melt into the moment with the one person he wished he could spend the rest of his life with.

Zack breath became erratic in Cloud's ear and Cloud's stomach became hotter and hotter as they both came to reaching their climaxes.

Zack had to bite down on Cloud's shoulder so he didn't scream out as he came, hard, inside the teen, his hips still moving against Cloud's to bring his boyfriend to same end which was only seconds later.

They both embraced one another again once Zack was laying beside Cloud underneath the covers, his strong arms holding the pale boy protectively as they kissed sweetly, both of their right hands tightly linked with one another's.

All good things come to an end.

**Sorry this took so long! I've been working on many (and boy do I mean many) other fanfictions, I did the stupid thing of opening up requests and now, I'm flooded with them as well as writing this, The Silence and old On, I'll Return. But trust me, this fiction in my main priority now :)**

**And I've noticed that reviews have slightly died down, have I written something that you guys don't like? I'm a little worried I've pissed some of you off or something.**


	15. Chapter 15

I do not own the characters, nor the games of which they come from, just the plot of my fanfiction.

Situations Change – Chapter XV

There was absolutely no way that he could do this to Zack, even if Simba _had _threatened to ruin the SOLDIER's reputation. He was in love with the raven and he knew for sure that Zack was in love with him as well. He chewed on his nails nervously as he stared at the calendar on his wall, he only had one day left to tell Zack before Simba had said he would go to SOLDIER and reveal everything.

Wait a minuet Cloud got up from his bed and kicked his computer into life, his finger hurriedly tapping onto the keyboard as quietly as he could, he still had to wear the bug otherwise Simba would know he was up to no good.

Signing into the Internet, Cloud surfed his way through to the website Zack, Reno and himself had been keeping an eye on for ages. A smirk played on his pale lips and he began to type in several codes to override the websites protection wall, his eyes flickering to the keyboard every now and again to make sure he was actually typing what he intended too. He couldn't believe he hadn't though of it before, he had hacked into the website before, so why hadn't he just simply deleted the data before hand and he wouldn't have had to worry so much? The only real threat to him now was Simba, but the bastard still had the evidence if Cloud didn't go through with it.

He jumped a little and switched the speakers off as a ringing tone flooded his bedroom as the computer screen went white for a few seconds before the website appeared again with the settings in 'edit' mode, meaning he could now delete everything and change the password so that Simba wouldn't be able to get back in and repost everything, which was another thing Cloud would have to take care of. Simba wasn't stupid, so it had occurred to Cloud that Simba wouldn't delete the evidence off of his cameras and wipe the audios from his Dictaphones.

He highlighted the texts on the page and deleted them quickly, scrubbing all outside links, shop items, photos, audios and videos from the website completely, grinning as he did so, his fingers dancing over the keys expertly as he came to the biggest challenge of all…deleting the original password put in place so that he could put a new one in.

He first tried to obvious ones, **Zachary Fair, Zack Fair, Zack, Fair, SOLDIER, Sexy, Files**, but nothing seemed to be working and he held back a frustrated groan knowing that Simba would hear and probably get thrill out of hearing him so annoyed.

_Lixia Kai _Cloud swiftly typed the name in and grunted as it still refused to accept his attempts, his tongue poked out and coated his lips with saliva as he hesitated before typing in his own name, nearly choking as it worked and he shivered at the thought of Simba using his name to create such a disgusting website. He changed the password and then pressed save, stretching with satisfaction as he then opened up a new tab at the top of the web page and saved hundreds of picture of flowers and cute animals. He sneered as he redecorated the pages with the pictures; wanting to humiliate Simba for all he'd done in the short time he had known Zack.

_I'm doing this for you Zack, I'm still coming to terms with the fact that this all started out…because you call me a girl _Cloud giggled quietly at his thought as he shut down his computer and turned his head as another idea popped into his head, eyeing his sketchpad and felt pens, he planned his next move.

"Zack, I'm tired, I had to drive around in the helicopter all day with Rufus screaming in my ear, I don't want to hear about it man!" Reno moaned as he stretched himself on the sofa, his legs dangling off the edge in a causal lazy way, his red hair falling into his eyes as he removed his goggles from his head.

"But Reno!" Zack gasped and almost jumped on top of his friend like a happy schoolgirl as he sighed heavily, "I really dreamt it, I dreamt I was marrying Cloud!" he grinned as Reno whined underneath him as he sat on the red heads stomach.

"Good for you," Reno muttered, "now get me a beer," he added with a harsh tone, it didn't really help a headache when you had an overly hyperactive best friend screaming at you about their love one.

"Maybe it's a sign though!" Zack smiled as he pictured the shy blonde, his smile and the way his beautiful laugh sang from his lips, "I mean, I'm not going to propose so soon, but in the future…I can really see it!" his hands grabbed Reno's shoulders and shook him excitedly, causing several curses to erupt from the red heads mouth.

"I really don't care you over grown fucking lunatic!" Reno yelled and grabbed Zack's wrist to make the shaking stop, "I get that you adore Cloud with all the bones in your overly grown body, but stop thinking about marriage, you dreamt it, so what, even I'vehad dreams where I've gotten married, but you don't see me jumping on you when you've got a burning headache!" Reno snarled and almost broke his serious posture at the startled expression on Zack's face, he looked adorable sometimes that it pained Reno to be mean to him most of the time.

"Alright," Zack murmured as he clambered off of Reno and sat on the floor in front of the sofa, chewing his lip happily and rolled his eyes as he began to feel like a woman.

"Just take it slow man," Reno sighed, his left hand still covering his sore head as he reached his right one out and patted Zack's shoulder.

Zack nodded though Reno couldn't see and flinched slightly as he saw a shadow creep along the wall and looked to the front room window to see Cloud standing outside the front door with his hands full and whimpered at how sweet he looked in his baggy clothes before he ran to the door and yanked it open, once again being silenced, but this time by Cloud covering his mouth with his hands instead of his lips.

Zack frowned but allowed him inside nether the less. He watched as Cloud quickly scribbled something down in his sketchpad before the beautiful blonde held it up to him.

**Simba is Lixia; he's bugged me, which is why we can't speak. **

Zack's eyes narrowed darkly as he read the message, but kept quiet as Cloud began to write again.

**I need to pretend to break up with you, he threatened to ruin you, but I've got a plan, so you can't take what I'm about to yell at you to heart, I love you no matter what I say next, okay?**

Zack wanted to tell him that he could easily sort Simba out but he could see how much Cloud needed to do this just by the way his stunning blue eyes seemed to be begging with him as much as his body language was and he nodded slowly.

"I'm sorry Zack, this just isn't working anymore," Cloud said loudly as his face pulled up into a sympathetic smile.

"What do you mean?" Zack asked, trying to sound upset so that hopefully, Simba would fall for it.

"I don't want to be with you anymore, you're," Cloud froze as he tried to think of an excuse, "you're…too old for me," Cloud could see that he had actually wounded Zack a little with his lies as the raven's eyes squinted slightly.

"But Cloud," Zack whispered as he tried to think about how it would really feel loosing Cloud and he ran away from the very idea of it.

"No, I'm sorry Zack, you can't…" Zack couldn't help but chuckle silently as Cloud was making himself sound as if he was crying, "you can't be with me, you're just too old, you work all day, I can't take it anymore, I need to be with someone of my own age!" Cloud shouted and held his hand up to Reno who jumped up from his position on the sofa confused as to why his friends were 'fighting'.

"Cloud wait!" Zack yelled as he watched the blonde run to the door, open it and then slammed it shut without leaving the house to make Simba think he'd run out.

"Wh…" Zack clamped his hand over Reno's mouth and shook his head furiously, nodding to Cloud to pick up the signs he had written and realization flowed brilliantly through Reno's face, a playful smirk playing on his handsome face.

Cloud giggled quietly and wrote something else down.

**Guess what.**

Zack and Reno tilted their heads to the side as if to ask 'what?' and Cloud turned to write some more.

**We're gonna win.**

**Okay, is it just me or is intelligent, spy themed Cloud really hot? Probably just me, anyways, sorry that this took so long guys, but as I'm sure most of you guys know, fanfiction was acting up and a lot of people couldn't upload new chapters! But here's the next one for you and I really hope you like it! Sorry about me worrying in the last chapter, I just want to make a good story for you guys, so I panic when reviews die in case you've lost interest, I'm just a worrier haha.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Situations Change – Chapter Sixteen**

-I do not own the characters, nor the games of which they come from, just the plot of my fanfiction

_-_Just in case I get another e-mail like I did the other day, of **course **this is a Yaoi fanfiction and I think I have the right to write it if I want to. People have different opinions on the characters and the games, I in fact **like **and **hate **CloTi but I haven't tolerance for Zaerith, as they are brother and sister in my opinion. If you don't like Yaoi then click the shiny back button on the top of your damn screen and leave everyone who likes it alone, we have opinions which are just as important as your homophobic ones.

- Pairing – Zack Fair x Cloud Strife.

- I also apologize for any grammatical errors or spelling mistakes, I uploaded this without proof reading and my second authors note explains why!

* * *

Cloud, although he, Zack and Reno had a plan, wasn't looking forwards to seeing Simba at school. He was secretly hoping that Simba hadn't tried to log into the website and had believed the performance he and Zack had put on a few days ago. Shortly after their fake performance, the three of them had agreed to a plan to capture Simba, being in SOLDIER, Zack knew a lot of things on how to keep people quiet _without _having to use force or terrifying the person.

He pulled on his baggy school jumper nervously as he walked into the grounds, still fully aware of the bug that he still had to wear until Simba took it off of him; he refused to speak until he reached him. Cloud wasn't a particularly paranoid person, but he couldn't help feeling that even the smallest move he made could give away the fact that he was still with Zack and so he took extra care with whatever he decided to do on the way to his tutor room where Simba would no doubt be waiting for him. It was times like these that he wished that Tifa were also in his tutor to pull him away from Simba.

_Please have tragically died or something _Cloud clunked his teeth as he began to walk slower as he saw the door to his tutor room. He wasn't this nervous before. What if he couldn't go through with the plan or what if he _did _go through with the plan and messed it up _because _of his nerves?

"Cloud!" the blonde froze in his footsteps and blinked a few times before spinning around so fast that Tifa nearly slammed into him and he quickly threw his arms out to catch her.

"T-Tifa?" Cloud inhaled deeply as he watched Tifa laugh at her stumble, "you're late too?" he cleared his throat afterwards to try and rid of the shakiness that he was sure Tifa could hear by the confused expression that sketched across her pretty face.

"Yeah, I got on the wrong bus, can you believe it?" she laughed and shook her head, "four years of coming to the same school and I get on the wrong school bus," she smiled warmly as Cloud began to laugh and the blonde blushed at noticing this. He knew Tifa absolutely adored the sound of his laughter, as it had been so rare after the last few years.

"Well you better hurry your tutor room is on the other side of the school!" Cloud informed her and snorted as her brown eyes widened in realization and she yelled him a goodbye as she began running again.

Entering his own tutor room, he was thankful to see that not only had his tutor not arrived yet, but also Simba hadn't gotten there yet either. He weighed out his choices of where to sit and opted for Yuffie who was currently doodling stars onto her wrist with a green biro pen.

"Hey Yuffie," the short black haired girl jumped about a foot in the air at the sound of his voice, causing her to draw a great long line of green down her arm and she looked up at him, playfully glaring.

"You're actually sitting next to me for once?" Yuffie raised her eyebrows and Cloud rolled his eyes as her as he took a seat.

"Well considering that Vincent is always beside you," he pointed out as a matter of fact and Yuffie blushed slightly, clearly not wanting to talk about her boyfriend with Cloud.

"Yeah well…" she trailed off and sighed slightly, "he's sick, so you're allowed to sit there," Cloud just stared at her in confusion, Yuffie had never made much sense to him, she was just too complicated for his brain to figure out.

The classroom fell quiet from it's chattering as their tall slim teacher finally entered the room, immediately greeting them and telling them what the news of the school was that week, but Cloud wasn't listening at all, he couldn't help but noticing that Simba wasn't there still which was unusual as Simba would normally always show up to keep an eye on Cloud.

_I guess even bastards get sick sometimes._

* * *

"I really don't know why you wanted to tag along Reno," Zack raised his eyebrow as he watched the red head sloppily stuff his hands into his baggy khaki trousers. Reno had decided to take it upon himself to lie to ShinRa and take a weeks leave on 'holiday' when Zack knew that he really just wanted to keep and eye on Cloud and him to make sure they were safe.

"I get bored staying on my own and plus you _know _why I'm following you," Reno yawned and turned with a slight hunch, causing his baggy black vest to swing around his thin body slightly and he flashed him a toothy smirk.

"Yeah I know, I just feel like a bloody dog walker that's all," Zack quickly ducked as Reno's fist came swinging towards his face.

"You jackass," Reno sneered chuckling and tugged at his ponytail as it was coming loose again, "you sure Cloud is alright going back to school with that psycho there?" Reno quickly added and he noticed how the raven flinched at his words, clearly he wasn't the only one worried about Cloud being at school, "sorry, didn't mean to bring it up," he muttered and jumped as Zack grabbed him in a headlock and rubbed his fist into his head.

"Don't apologize, you're going soft in your old age man," Zack laughed as Reno began cursing heavily.

"Get the _fuck _off of me man!" Reno groaned and tried to push Zack away from him, fully aware of the people walking passed them giving them strange looks. Obviously not knowing how much of a moron their SOLDIER protector really was.

"I'm sure Cloud will be fine, he's a lot stronger than anybody gives him credit for," Zack finally said as he stopped torturing Reno and ducked once more as Reno tried to grab _him_ in a headlock.

"Yeah I guess," Reno replied still glaring at Zack no doubt planning his revenge on the idiot.

It was a quiet day on patrol for the two of them and boredom was starting to eat away at them as they continued to walk in the sweltering heat making Zack wish he were in clothing similar to Reno's. His blue eyes kept on darting around at the people eating ice cream and cool dumbapple juice, which made his mouth water.

"Excuse me!" both Zack and Reno jumped and exchanged glances before turning around to see the one person that made Zack's over heated body turn to ice and Reno frowned at him when he heard the raven's breathing hitch loudly.

Zack quickly composed himself properly as Simba came to a halt in front of them and he forced a smile on his face, "can I help you?" he asked politely and Simba nodded, his eyes glaring at Reno slightly who just scoffed at the boy's attitude.

"I've seen you hanging around with my friend Cloud," Simba began and Zack gritted his teeth tightly as he bit his tongue.

"Yeah so what?" Reno interjected and smirked at the other glare he received.

"Well he's been upset for the passed few days and I was wondering whether you and I could see whether we could cheer him up or not," Zack felt his heart race with excitement, Simba was practically following the plan himself.

"Uh, yeah sure," Zack turned to Reno as he put his hand unwillingly onto Simba's shoulder, "could you go and get that '_Chocobo_ Care Kit'?" Reno laughed at the mention of his small blonde friends nickname and nodded slowly.

"Sure thing," Reno nodded and began walking away from them, his fingers tracing his red tattoos with a smug look on his face as he did so.

Zack then turned Simba around keeping his arm around the boy's shoulders with a kind smile on his face.

"Chocobo Care Kit?" Simba chuckled, "didn't realize you had a Chocobo, aren't they violent most of the time," he shrugged with a sigh and Zack rolled his eyes at the boy's lack of knowledge on the beautiful birds.

"Well that's the thing about Chocobo's," he lied with a small smile, "if their owner's in trouble because of somebody else, I can guarantee you that that Chocobo will do everything in it's power to protect them,"

* * *

**Reviews please my wonderful readers!**

**And yes, Zack was in fact talking about Cloud ^w^ when making the Violent Chocobo talk :D I am so so sorry that this took so long to appear here but in all honesty my entire file of this story just vanished from my system and not only this story but my other stories as well, so I had to go through my written notes and there are so many that I couldn't find the damn notes for this chapter haha and when I did eventually find them, the files reappeared! D: Stupid technology xD Anyways, hope you guys forgive me :3 By the way, Reno in cut off khakis and a black vest are TOTALLY drool-worthy.**


	17. Chapter 17

-**Pairing: **Zack x Cloud

-**Notes: **This fanfiction contains **yaoi/shounen ai, **which means that it contains **boy-boy love, **Zack and Cloud from Final Fantasy. If you do not agree with yaoi/shounen ai then please click that wonderful thing I like to call and back button and leave the page.  
- **Usual Thing: **I don't own any of the characters, nor the games of which they come from, just the plot of my fanfiction.

-**Please review this!**

* * *

Tifa watched as Cloud continued to doodle on his school book, she had noticed small differences in her best friend over the past few months and she felt a little left out what with Cloud spending all of his spare time with either Zack or Reno.

She wasn't jealous, just sad. But she had to admit that she adored seeing the smile that had replaced his usually expressionless face, it made his blue eyes sparkle like ocean jewels and his face completely lit up.

"Hey Cloud," she greeted and Cloud looked up from his schoolbook, a certain name scribbled all over it like a school girl would have done, quickly hiding it under his arm.

"Hey Tifa," he beamed before frowning as she pulled a package out of her black bag.

"What's this?" he asked and he saw Tifa raise her eyebrows in confusion.

"Cloud, it's your birthday at two o'clock silly," Tifa replied giggling as realization washed over the blonde's face.

"I completely forgot!" Cloud rolled his eyes and blushed as Tifa placed a gentle kiss on his cheek and put the package in his hands, the noise of the canteen still drummed in his ears as he pulled away the wrapping paper.

"Tifa," Cloud smiled as he stared at the **Marvel Comic **that he had been trying to find endlessly for months, "I love you," he laughed and pulled her close, kissing her forehead gently before his eyes snapped open as one particular thought proceeded to dance around his mind.

He was eighteen; he was now officially allowed to be dating Zack.

Tifa blinked a few times as Cloud fell silent once more and frowned deeply as she saw Reno jogging across the canteen in his casual wear.

"Reno?" Cloud looked up at the mention of his friends name and arched his eyebrow as Reno reached him, panting a little when he stopped, his hands on his knees.

"Sorry Tifa," Reno gulped in a big breath of air, "I need to borrow Cloud for a while,"

* * *

Zack peered into his front room from the kitchen as he poured Sprig Juice into two glasses; his usually wide and vibrant eyes had now been turned in an unflattering scowl, which didn't suit his beautifully happy face.

He was hoping that Cloud and Reno would hurry and join him; he didn't want to play along with Simba for too long as Cloud had told him too.

He wanted Simba to leave Midgar.

"Here," he smiled falsely and handed Simba one of the glasses which the brunette gladly took with a seductive smile.

"Thank you Zachary," Zack gritted his teeth as he sat beside the boy upon hearing his first full name.

Noticing how Simba was trying to drink somewhat seductively and Zack had to bit his tongue to prevent himself coming out of character.

"So Zack," Simba placed his drink on the table, "I heard you and Cloud broke up," Zack's heart stung slightly and he licked his lips.

"Yeah, it wasn't meant to be I guess," Zack shrugged nearly choking on his drink as Simba moved closer to him and placed his hand on Zack's inner thigh.

"You're too good for him," Zack's eyes darkened, "and anyway," Simba rubbed his thigh, "wouldn't you want to date a _real_ man?" Zack froze as Simba moved his face closer to his, jumping slightly as his home phone went off and he answered it, jumping up from the sofa with a sense of urgency making his heart beat frantically.

"I won't be a minuet," Zack muttered to Simba as he placed his hand over the mouthpiece and gently shut the door that led to the front room, staying close by just in case Simba decided to lean in and listen to his conversation.

"Hello?" he whispered and stared through the tiny crack in the door.

"Zack," a smile appeared on his face at the sound of his little blonde.

"Hey baby," he sighed and snorted at the shy giggle Cloud allowed to escape him, causing his heart to race, "the plan is on it's high…but could you and Reno hurry up," he hushed and grinned as Cloud giggled again.

"We're walking, but we'll get there soon, I promise…" Zack could sense that Cloud wanted to say something and rolled his eyes as he heard the nervous whimper call down the phone.

"What is it?" he prompted peering into the front room again to be safe.

"I feel a little jealous that you're with him…alone…I want to be with you alone," Zack could almost hear him blush and smiled warmly.

"You have no reason to be jealous, you're the only person I want to be with," Zack cringed slightly at his words but a swell of pride filled him for being able to admit his feelings a little better.

"Reall-"

"Guys, I may not be on the phone, but I can still guess that you two are romancing one another," Reno's voice was quiet but it was enough to make Zack have to cover his mouth as he began laughing.

"I love you so much," Zack cooed down the phone a little more quietly.

"I love you too," Cloud sounded shy and Zack could imagine him blushing a perfect pink, his ears would also burn red cutely.

"See you soon," Cloud sighed almost sadly and hung up leaving Zack practically beaming on the other end of the phone, still half daydreaming about Cloud blushing.

Ugh Simba jumped back into his mind, he still had a plan to complete, and your misery begins again Fair.

He pushed the door open and tossed the phone onto the table before sitting back down next to Simba again.

"Sorry about that," he smiled slightly with his eyes focused on his rather fashionable _sponge bob_ socks.

"It's not a bother to me," Simba smirked as he moved closer to Zack again, "so may I ask you something?"

Zack hesitated a little, not really wanting to hear anything that Simba had to say let alone ask, but he nodded despite his thoughts.

"Why don't you make love to me to find out what _real _sex is like?"

_Oh…that's __**really **__disgusting _Zack held his breath as he began to feel sick, surely when Cloud had said _'keep him busy' _whilst discussing the plan at first, he hadn't had meant _this_.

"Cloud couldn't satisfy you the way I would," Zack felt a little vulnerable and flinched as Simba moved and sat on his laps, knees either side of him.

"Oh I don't know," Zack sighed defending his lover, "Cloud was pretty damn good," Zack nearly spat out and held his breath as Simba's arms slipped around his neck confidently…not like Cloud who would be so shy about it that it would make Zack's heart beat ten times faster and his body would warm dramatically.

"Forget about him, you're a first class SOLDIER, he's not worth even half your time," Simba's eyes practically shone with certainty that he was going to have sex with Zack and make him forget about Cloud.

Zack felt a little sorry for him, having to act like a whore to get what he wanted couldn't be very fun…depending on what kind of person Simba actually was that is.

"So what makes _you_ so special that me, a first class SOLDIER, would want to sleep with you?" Zack felt his heart slam against his chest as Simba leaned forwards and sensually bit his bottom lip hard.

"I actually have experience unlike that frigid little blonde," Simba purred, rolling his hips against Zack's. Zack swallowed and his eyes flickered to the window, nearly sighing with relief when he saw Cloud and Reno running passed.

He then looked back at Simba who was still wearing a somewhat lustful stare.

"I would love to," he said sarcastically, "but I'm afraid I would never cheat on the love of my life," Zack pushed Simba off of him roughly and rushed to the front room door, pulling it open just as Cloud and Reno were about to kick it down.

"**What!**" Simba hissed picking himself up off of the floor and clenching his hands into tight fists.

"You're not very smart, _Lixia_," Reno grinned and winked at Simba whose face had gone dangerously pale.

"I tricked you, I never broke up with Zack," Cloud explained, his body shaking with anger and smiled a little as Zack's fingers laced with his own.

"You lying bastard," Simba's eyes widened when he saw Zack's free hand also turn into a fist, "it doesn't matter!" he screamed and stamped his foot onto the ground, "I can still send SOLDIER the evidence," he pointed at all three of them and sweat grew on his forehead as he saw that Cloud was shaking his head.

The blonde licked his lips, "because of what has been going on, I actually forgot that it was my birthday today…at two o'clock in fact…it's now quarter passed two and I'm officially and _legally _allowed to be with Zack," Simba laughed shaking his head, brushed his brown hair out of his face as he did so whilst Cloud's hand tightened around Zack's.

"Moron," Simba spat but Cloud didn't react, "I have photos of you two, recordings of you two _fucking_!" he smirked widely and it fell silent as the three in front of him continued to smile, confusing him.

"_You're _the moron," Reno arched his eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest, licking his lips patronizingly, "Dictaphones record _only _sound _not _dates or times meaning even if you _did _play that to SOLDIER, there's _no way _to prove that it was recorded when Cloud was underage," he added with a sarcastic sigh and Simba's pace turned even paler like paper as his plan began to crumble in front of him.

"Wait!" Simba shouted and Cloud cuddled closer to Zack as if to make a statement.

"I have photos of you, cameras save the dates _and _times that photos are taken," Simba almost sneered and scowled at Cloud.

"True," Cloud replied quietly and brushed his blonde bangs out of his eyes, "but I've deleted them from your camera," Cloud stated and Simba smirked again.

"They're stored on the memory card," he laughed and Reno flicked his hand out somewhat daintily.

"Oh," Reno purred, "you mean _this _memory card?" he wiggled the card in between his fingers and Zack felt laughter brewing inside of him.

Simba's face had turned red rather quickly, clearly failing at completing his own plan and Cloud squeezed Zack's hand victoriously.

"You can't do anything to us anymore," Zack pointed out and held Cloud tightly in his arms, rubbing the boy's pale flesh as his fingers slipped up the back of his shirt, "Cloud is legally allowed to see and so whatever he wants, so take your stuff and get out before I report _you _for sexual harassment, truanting, assault, invasion of privacy, blackmail…need I go on?" Simba gritted his teeth and pulled at his hair in frustration, screaming at the top of his lungs.

"It's not fair, it's not fair!" Reno puffed and grabbed him by the back of his shirt and dragged the irritated teenager towards the front door, picking up his backpack and nabbing the Dictaphone and camera from inside.

"Shut up," Reno snapped passing both the camera and Dictaphone to Cloud who gladly took them, "if you haven't moved from Midgar by the tomorrow morning then I'll arrest you myself and I can be such a bitch sometimes yo," he chuckled darkly and threw Simba out of the house, chucking the bag at his head.

"I-I can't move that fast!" Simba stuttered as tears cascaded down his cheeks, "y-you can't do this t-to me!"

"Oh I think I can dickface," Reno snapped before slamming the door in the boy's face, not wanting to hear another word from his lying, scheming mouth.

Reno turned and saw the way that Zack was staring at Cloud and rolled his eyes, "I'll be in the fucking kitchen," he muttered and walked passed them.

It was only when Reno was out of the hallway that Zack pulled Cloud into a violent but passionate kiss, shocking the blonde deeply as they suddenly slammed into the wall, their lips moving desperately against one another's.

Zack lovingly caressed Cloud's tongue with his as his hands held his precious blonde tightly, pulling him up so that Cloud's legs were wrapped around his waist. Cloud felt himself blushing darkly as he kissed Zack back, pulling at the man's hair roughly as relief and loved blinded both of them.

"I love you Cloud," Zack panted through his kisses, urgent to stay as attached to Cloud as possible after having to avoid him for a few days so their plan would work.

He couldn't believe that their plan had worked and it was all thanks to the beautiful mind that his boyfriend had.

"I love you Zack," Cloud purred and ran his fingers through Zack's thick man of hair, trying to gulp in air between their frantic kissing.

"We're finally safe my little Cloudy," Cloud nearly glared at the nickname, but he couldn't bring himself to argue as his senses were currently tingling as Zack's lips caressed his skin.

"Now I know to watch out for your fans," Cloud giggled as he received a stern look from Zack, whose hands were lightly stroking his backside, "too early for jokes?" Cloud leaned upwards and kissed Zack shyly on the lips.

"Much too early," Zack whispered as he pressed his forehead to Cloud's, smiling as he tried to recall the last time he had felt so happy. Cloud had changed his life in some ways; for one thing, Zack would be more careful around his fans.

Cloud had gender-confused him, made him gay, fall in him love _and _willing to do anything to protect both the blonde and his red haired best friend.

"We may have more problems," Cloud began as his baby blue eyes met Zack's, "but I promise to stay and help you," he blushed heavily and Zack sniggered cupping Cloud's face in his hands delicately.

"And I do too," he agreed capturing Cloud's soft pale pink lips with his once more, "and one more thing, happy birthday,

* * *

**And that's the end! And I just want to say that there **_**will**_** be an Epilogue! I'm not ready to say goodbye to Situations Change just yet haha. And I would like to say the biggest thank you to those who were kind enough to follow, alert, favourite and review this story, I honestly didn't expect it to get this much attention. But I am currently working on another Zack x Cloud fanfiction, I am a huge fan of this pairing and I have a lot of adventures planned for them, I hope you'll stay and read those as well. Until them, watch out for the Epilogue!**

**Love you all!**

**Sora 3**

**14/05/2011**

***Note: I apologize for the lateness of this final chapter, my Internet completely shut down and we had to find new cables and wires etc but everything's fine now! :D Also it's late up because no longer works on my computer so uploads in the future may be a little slower. But I'm working on getting it sorted :)**


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